


First Flower

by najwas_nose



Category: Vis a Vis | Locked In (Spain TV)
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, Cottage core, F/F, Zurena, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:33:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 41,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24774700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/najwas_nose/pseuds/najwas_nose
Summary: In "First Flower", both Maca and Zulema can get on the helicopter to leave El Oasis. After so many years of crime, they decide to settle down together on a small house to raise Maca's baby in peace.
Relationships: Macarena Ferreiro/Zulema Zahir, Zurena - Relationship
Comments: 132
Kudos: 312
Collections: Lesbian stories





	1. I'm staying here with you

Chapter 1  
Maca’s Pov

“Get on the helicopter. You’re not alone anymore”

We’ve been running for almost two hours now, and it was the first time since I met Zulema that I could tell that she didn’t have a plan. And neither did I, but if there was one thing that I did know, was that I wasn’t going to leave her there to die, not after everything we’ve been through together for the last couple of years. Everything we did in these last years has lead us here, and it was time for us to deal with the consequences of our actions.

My head was a mix of thoughts about Zulema, and how much I cared for her now, but I also kept thinking about my baby, and that if I lost her as well I would never be able to forgive myself. But the thing was that I knew that I wouldn’t forgive myself either if something happened to Zulema.

If we were in this situation some years ago, I would have entered that helicopter without even looking behind, but Zulema and I were not the same people we were years ago, back when we were in prison. We allowed ourselves to show different sides of us whilst living together, and we couldn’t pretend that we didn’t care about each other now.

“Absolutely not. I’m staying here with you.” I answer, a bit reluctant, because I also didn’t have any kind of plan. But I knew that if we were going to die, we might as well do it together. It was only fair.

“Don’t be an idiot Maca. Think about your baby. I made you lose your first one and I won’t allow the same thing to happen with this one.”

“You can’t change my mind, I’m staying here and we are going to face this together.” 

Suddenly, we listen to the sound of the helicopter that was meant to get us out of here approaching, and shots are fired. Neither me nor Zulema had any weapons, so the only thing we could was hide. While shots are being exchanged between Zulema’s men and the ones that were trying to kill us, we hide ourselves behind a big rock that was next to us. Once we sit down, with our backs facing the helicopter, I feel Zulema’s hand on my stomach. I look at her.

“Everything will be okay. We’re gonna save this child. I can promise you that.” Her voice was trembling, but I knew she meant every word, and I trusted her with my entire being.  
“I know we will” I smile at her, putting my hand on top of hers.

All of the sudden, we hear two very familiar female voices.

“Drop your weapons, now!” Triana and Goya yell in an unissin. There were only two men up, since the other ones had already been hit by the men on the helicopter. The two men hesitate for a bit, but then they realize that they have weapons pointed at the them from the front and behind. With that, they re-enter their car and drive away. We were both out of words, because even though we didn’t say it to each other, we were absolutely sure that we would die right there.

We slowly step away from the rock and start walking towards the two women.

“What took you both so long to come? We could’ve been killed.” Zulema says.

“You do have some nerve don’t you? You should be thanking us on your knees, since you left us behind.” Triana says, almost yelling.

“You’re right, we’re sorry, we only noted that you two weren’t here once the men started coming.” I say, trying to avoid starting an argument.

The four of us start walking towards the helicopter, with a feeling of relief. We were all willing to leave this type of life behind, just as we were leaving El Oasis for good. It was finally time to start making new decisions, healthy ones. We didn’t know what the future had in store for us, but we did know that we wanted to give my child a good life, unlike the one we had.


	2. Where do you wanna go?

Zulema’s Pov

Once the helicopter starts flying, I can’t help but to get lost on my thoughts about how my future will look like. Am I even worthy of a proper future? I obviously know the answer to that question, but I’m too afraid to admit it. Maca will become a mother in a few months and I can’t blame her if she wants me to disappear from her life, because what type of mother would want her child to be near someone as awful as me?

“Zulema, are you okay?” Maca asks me, lightly grabbing my arm.

“What are we going to do now? I mean, I suppose you want as to separate but-”

“What do you mean by “separate”?” She looks at me with an expression of confusion.

“Well, I just thought that you wouldn’t want me near your baby, given what happened with… you know…. with the other one.”

“Zulema, I hated you for a long time because of that and also everything you did to my family, but I’ve done you a lot of harm too, and the only thing we can do right now is make our peace with the past and simply move on. Nevertheless, you did kill my baby, so the very least you can do right now is stay with me and help me raise this one.” Maca says, with a very genuine smile. I smile back.

I can’t believe she trusted me for something that important. I played her words over and over in my head, before coming up with a coherent answer.

“I’ll gladly help you. But do keep in mind that I know nothing about babies, so it might take awhile for me to be actually useful.”

“Your company is enough for me.” Reluctant she takes my hand and squeezes it. I freeze. Demonstrations of affect between us, although are more common now than back in prison, but they still scared me a bit, but at the same time they made me happy. 

The times we had sex in the van or even the fact that we had to sleep in the same bed due to the lack of space allowed me to realize that I do crave affect, and to feel desired, and that was something that I never thought I needed. But Maca, she helped me realize that, and having now this opportunity to help her with the child will perhaps show me that that’s all I wanted for my entire life.

“Zulema, where do you wanna go?” Ekram, the man driving the helicopter and a long time contact of Hanbal and myself, asks.

“We haven’t really decided that, just gets us out of Spain and we’ll get back to you in a minute.”  
He shakes his head in agreement.

“No Zule, we don’t want to leave Spain, let’s just go to the periphery” Goya says, with a tone of despair.

“You two can stay here if that’s what you wish, but the police is looking for us and we have a baby to protect. Things have changed.” I give a small, but honest smile to Maca, which she responds with a bigger one.

“Okay then. Mehdi, can you leave Goya and I in La Coruña? We might as well stay in a small place and near the ocean if we ever need to leave.” Mehdi, the other man, nods with his head, but affirms that it will take a couple of hours to get there.

“And you blondie, where do you want to go? You can choose anywhere in the world.”

“You know what, I’ve always wanted to go to France. To stay in a nice little cottage with no one around, and just enjoy the sounds of nature.” As she talks, I notice her eyes have little sparks, and that for some reason makes me smile.

“If that’s what you want then that’s what will do. You heard her Ekram? Take us to Normandy, in France after you take the happy couple. I’ve heard it’s beautiful there.”

Once we get to La Coruña the helicopter lands on the floor, in a open and empty place, near the sea. 

“Well then. I think this is a definite goodbye.” Triana says, with teary eyes.

“You look like you’re saying goodbye to your childhood friends. We had one heist together. Get over it and stop being dramatic.”

“Zulema, don’t. We did all share some happy moments, despite how it all went down.” Maca says facing the two women.

“We could’ve had a lot more of those happy moments if someone didn’t try to betrays us more than once.” Triana talks back, with a tone of disdain in her words.

“Come on girls let’s not argue right now. At least the goodbye should be peaceful.” Goya says, wrapping her arm around Triana’s waist. “Thank you both for everything, and Maca take care of that baby, I’m sure you’ll be an amazing mother.” Goya hugs Maca.

She then faces me and hugs me as well. I freeze for a bit, but then hug her back.

“Even though you carved a weapon of wood on my stomach, I respect you a lot Zule, and I consider you a friend, take care of you, as well as Maca and the baby”. I let go of the hug and absorb her words.

“I feel the same thing, but I’m still really proud of that weapon to be honest. I let out a small giggle.

“I understand, you are a genius”

“Well we should go now before it gets too dark” Triana faces me and Maca and myself and smiles. They both give us a small wave before they start to walk away.

Once again, the helicopter takes flight, and we are on our way to Normandy.


	3. The Swing

Maca’s Pov

We’ve been flying on our way to Normandy for about an hour now. Dusk approaches, and I can’t help but to feel a mix of fear and hope for the future that’s ahead of me and the brunette sleeping on my side. I look at her. It was always a bit uncanny for me to watch Zulema sleeping, because she always looked like she was suffering, that she was sad. But for the first time since we’ve known each other I notice that she was carrying a posture that I could only describe as peaceful. And I could relate to that, because even though I felt anxious about the future, I also felt that by leaving the motel, we were also leaving behind all our demons and all our mistakes. And we both had a lot of those.

“Why aren't you sleeping?” Zulema inquires in a lower and raspier voice than the one she usually has.

“I can’t fall asleep, I’m feeling a bit sick.” I don’t face her.  
“Oh. Do you want to stop for a couple of hours?”

“No, the faster we arrive the better. I’ll feel better soon.”

“Is there something I can do then?” She asks and I notest a tone of concern.

“Thank you, but no. Really I’m fine, I should be able to fall asleep soon enough. Get back to sleep now.”

“I can’t. I’m wide awake now.”

She rests her head near the window and slightly turns her body to face me.

“Who is the father?”

“What?” I stutter. Ever since I got pregnant I expected her to ask me that, but I really didn’t think it would matter, since the father is obviously not around.

“Ever since we started living together I never saw you with any man, you can’t blame me for being a bit curious.” She frowns a bit, like she usually does when she’s asking something important.

“Yeah, I guess you have the right to know anyway. So, do you remember when we went to that pub where you shot that man that was trying to rape that girl?”

“Yes, so while I was doing a good deed you were having sex?” She laughs.

“Don’t be an idiot. The guy could just bump into you and you would shoot him anyhow.”

She laughs once again. “Touché. But I’m now willing to quit those habits.”

“I’m glad. But back to my story. I don’t know if you remember but we had a big argument earlier that day so we were barely talking, so whilst you were outside I was inside the pub and there was this guy standing next to me who offered me a drink. We talked for a bit, but I just kept thinking about our argument and how angry I was at you, so next thing I know I was in the pub’s bathroom with him.” I finally face her with a bit of embarrassment.

“So you had sex with that man because you were mad at me?” This time she bursts into laughter and I can’t help to appreciate that beautiful sound.

“Don’t get too cocky, it’s embarrassing. But at least the result made me happy.” I put my hands on my stomach. “I just hope I won’t mess up everything.”

“You won’t, you will be a terrific mother, I know it.” Zulema smiles at me with tenderness and my heart immediately warms. “Do you want to put your head on my lap? Maybe you’ll sleep better if you’re laying down.” Her voice has a tone of uncertainty, she still is a newbie in showing affection, but I think she does it very well. I nod with my head and and put it on her lap. As I’m falling into a deep sleep, I feel her lips pressing against my left cheek. “Sleep well rubia.” She says softly before caressing my hair. With a peaceful feeling, I fall asleep.

I wake up a few hours later being shaken up by the brunette.  
“Maca,we’re here.” With difficulty due to the strong light, I open my eyes and examine the space around us. Looking at the windows of  
the helicopter, I could see a big green field, and a bit ahead a long road and a car parked there, and I guessed that there was our way to enter our new life.

Before we get off the helicopter, Zulema hands one of the men an envelope that contains the payment for the help. After that we head towards the car, and she starts driving. Once we get in the car, Zulema takes of her jacket and turns on the radio, that’s playing a french song that I’ve never heard in my entire life, but that to my surprise she starts singing along to it quietly. I’ve always found so charming and fascinating the way she enjoys so many different genres of music and all from a different part of the world, and how she needs to turn on the music before she starts doing something. It was just something so typical of her. When we first start living together, she told me that when I was released and she helped the police solving a big case involving a murder, Castillo said that she could choose something for him to get to her as a reward, and she chose a radio. She said that it was what helped her to keep her sanity until she could get out. 

We remain in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before I decide to break it. “Do we even have a house to go to?”

“Don’t worry about that. I made some calls while you were sleeping, everything is settled. I was able to talk with a man that had a cottage for renting, just like the one you wanted. We were able to make a deal concerning the payment.”

“Thank you. Thank you for all the effort you’ve been making for me;” It was really heartwarming to see it, and words weren’t strong enough what I was feeling towards the whole situation. She really cared about me and the baby and the feeling was mutual. All the hatred I felt for her in the past had been transformed in something so pure and genuine. It was some kind of love, maybe in an unconventional way, but it was love nevertheless.

“You don’t have to thank me really, I’m happy to do this.” She gives me a small smile before getting her attention back on the road.

We remain in silence for the rest of the drive.

Zulema’s Pov

We arrive at the Cottage after a few hours. It was a lovely and secluded place, surrounded by big trees and bushes. The house on the outside was made of gray stones with four windows, a dark and old looking chimney, as well as a small porch with a bench on it. The biggest tree near the house had a little wood swing that was the type of swing you would only see in the movies. I smile at the sight of it. Just like the trampoline we have to leave behind along with the van, I dreamed of having a swing as a child, but my mother never got me one. The last time we talked about swings was when she offered my hand in marriage to a disgusting old man, that was married to another three women. I was 13, and obviously didn’t want to marry that man, and in order to convince me, my mother told me that he had a beautiful swing, and that if I went home with him, I could use it as much as I wanted. I ran away the next morning.

As soon as Maca noticed the swing she started running in it’s direction and sat on it. She started swinging it with the energy of a kid and with that sight I couldn’t help but to imagine the baby in a few years doing the exact same thing, and my chest gets warmer.  
After a couple of minutes we walk to the front door and I reach for underneath the mat to grab the key, since that’s where the landlord told me it would be. I unlock the door and open it, letting Maca enter the house first. 

The first thing I notice is the musty odor and the heavy dust, which makes me realize that the house has been empty for quite some time. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful space: when we first walk in, we are already in the living room, that has a nice little beige couch with three colorful pillows, as well as a green fluffy blanket. In front of the couch there’s a small coffee table that only has the tv remote, and in front of that table we have an old black tv, that I could bet that it was broken, but I didn’t really care. Next to the tv there was a small and fireplace made of bricks, and there was also a tall bookshelf with a lot of books and some of them immediately caught my attention. 

The kitchen was linked to the living room and it was just as small and charming. All the cabinets were a light green and it was heavily equipped, having a big and light counter with four stools around it. Next to the kitchen there was a wooden door that led us to the bedroom.

“I’m very sorry to tell you this but we’ll have to share the room again.” I say without looking at her, pretending I’m sad about that.

“Thankfully I’m already used to that.” She says smiling, and with that I realize that she also isn’t upset about it.

The room is perhaps the nicest part on the house. The landlord told me he would make sure to come to the house and arrange it a bit to receive us, and although he wasn’t able to get rid of the smell that explains the colorful pillows and the green blanket on the couch, as well as the large amount of plants in the bedroom. The bed was big enough for two people and it was covered with a white bedding and a pastel pink blanket folded on the foot of the bed. On each side there was a small wooden bedside table, both with a lamp on top. There was a big window on the right side of the room that I immediately opened to try and get right of the smell. In the left side of the room, there was a door that led us to the bathroom, that had a white bathtub,and in front of it there was a small light blue rug. The floor was covered in whites tiles with thin black borders and there was also a white cabinet with a squared mirror on top.

We leave the bathroom and go back to living room, and sit on the couch. Once we sit down, we both look around for a bit as a way to absorb everything, since it all seemed a bit surreal. Who would have thought. When I first met blondie I didn’t even want her in my cell, and now we were living together in a cottage to raise a baby in the future.

After looking around I quickly glance at Maca, who was already staring at me.

“What?” I ask, smiling.  
Without saying anything she places a small kiss on my lips, and hugs me afterwards. 

“I’m just really really happy.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
I really hope you're all enjoying it :)

my twitter: @chaionearth 


	4. I want to be able to stare at her face for the rest of our lives

Maca’s Pov

“I’m really happy too.” She answers, smiling. I feel her arms wrapped tightly around my waist and I just felt so safe. Even though we slept together a bunch of times and allowed each other to know our most vulnerable sides, this kind of demonstrations of affection were rare between us, and only happen when we wanted to let our guards down, and now we could both agree that there was no reason to keep them up.

We stay in the couch for about two hours, talking about what we wanted to do with the house, and then we decide to finally tidy up the house. Zulema kept complaining about the smell of the house, and even though it didn’t bother me that much, I told her that if we removed the dust and opened all the windows, the smell should go soon. And that’s exactly what we do. We start taking the dust of every furniture and we mop the floor as well. We clean the windows and the bathroom, we let the bedding, the pillows and the couch’s blanket aerate outside on the porch’s bench.

After everything is cleaned, we decide that we should probably buy some groceries and some things that were missing in the house. Our cottage was very far away from all the movement of the actual region of Normandy, and that obviously suited us well. Nevertheless, it was the perfect place for us to live in, since the police would never think of looking for us there, not even Castillo.

The drive to the store goes by quickly, even though it’s almost forty five minutes. We get to see a lot of beautiful green views, and with that I remembered how much I missed being around nature, back when I was in jail. Being confined in such a harsh and dull places, where the only thing we could see was the sky, it made me appreciate the small things a lot more after I got released.

“We should also see if we can find a hospital or a clinic nearby, you still haven’t checked if the baby was alright.” Zulema says as she is opening the door to get out of the car.

Her concerns about that made me smile. I planned on not bringing up that subject, since it would be dangerous for us to give our information, especially in a place like a hospital. But she was right, the baby should be our top priority. 

We don’t take too long on the supermarket, but we try to stock on everything so we don’t have to come back any time soon, to avoid exposing ourselves.

As soon as we walk to the porch of the house, a sense of dizziness takes over my body and I try to run to the bathroom once I’m hit with an urge to throw up, but I can’t even give two steps before I fall into the ground.

“Maca? Maca? What’s wrong?” Zulema gets down and helps me get up, supporting me as we walk inside. I let go of her once the urge to vomit becomes unbearable. I kneel in front of the toilet and release everything I had inside, making my throat ache. I feel Zulema’s presence beside me, as she pushes my hair back to avoid getting it dirty.

“You will be okay now, you’ll see.” She says whilst flushing the toilet after I finish, and turns on the tap. I brush my teeth and quickly splash some water on my face. The sensation of the cold water on my face gets rid of the remains of the dizziness I still felt. I can’t help but to feel embarrassed for this situation. This was some kind of intimacy we’ve never experienced together before, and I didn’t know what to make of it. We remain in silence for a few seconds, as I’m trying to catch my breath, and also avoiding establishing eye contact.

“Let’s go, you have to lay down for a bit and try to get some sleep. I’m gonna search for a hospital and try to schedule an appointment.”

Even though I feel tired I didn’t feel like going to bed, but I simply nod and walk to the bed. It doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

Zulema’s Pov

I’ll never get tired of looking at her face. 

As time goes by, I’m able to appreciate even more every single detail on her face, and watching Maca sleeping in our bed this day for some reason made me realize that I want to be able to stare at her face for the rest of our lives. I want to make her feel the way she makes me feel, and to thank her for finally giving me a home. And by ‘home”, I don’t mean the physical space we find ourselves at the moment, but herself. 

I’m taken from my thoughts once I’m startled by the phone ringing. Ekram’s name appears in big and bold letters.

“I thought I told you to not call me for the next few weeks.” I whisper, trying to avoid waking up Maca.

“We found her.” Ekram answers without hesitation.

“Already? How?”

“That doesn’t matter, you told us to be quick, we can meet you tomorrow, if you have the money.”

“You know I do. Good. Was she happy to hear about me?” It’s been so long since we were together, and I was afraid she didn’t feel the same way about me as she did years ago.

“She seemed pleased enough. Look, I can’t talk right now. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Ekram hangs up the phone without even waiting for my answer. Idiot.

Nonetheless, I smile with satisfaction, even though I feel a certain anxiety crippling inside of me. It’ll be nice to see her again, after all this time. And I can’t help but wonder how she’ll react once she finds out about me and Macarena. And how Maca will react seeing her again.

I’m able to find a clinic and schedule an appointment faster than I thought, and once I finish doing it I look once again at Maca, who is still in a deep sleep. It’s getting dark out, so I take a quick shower and lay next to her. Maca, even though being still asleep, reaches for me when she feels my presence next to her, so I guide her head to my chest, and she remains there. It only takes me a few minutes to fall asleep.


	5. I love chamomile

Maca’s Pov

I woke up feeling much better than before. Before I even dare to open my eyes I reach for Zulema, to only find her side of the bed empty.

“Good morning.” My heart skips a small beat when she says those words. And I’m left speechless when I face the bedroom door where she is standing, with her head leaning to the opposite side of the door. She’s wearing a black and plain dress that goes down to her ankles. Her hair was thrown to one side and the sunlight coming from the window reflected on her hair, making it look shinier and her skin glow. And for the first time since I’ve met her she was wearing absolutely no makeup. On her left hand she had a lit cigarette, whilst the right one was carrying a beige mug. She looked absolutely stunning. 

She starts walking towards me as if she was going to hand me that mug. “Here. Be careful, it’s hot.” The warmth of the mug feels comforting in my hands. 

“I know you aren’t really allowed to drink coffee during the pregnancy, so I made you some chamomile tea.” She sits down on the foot of the bed.

“Thank you, I love chamomile.” I smile. She smiles back. “You seem especially caring today. Did you do something wrong?”

“What makes you think I did something wrong? I’ve been caring with you for a long time now.” I simply stare at her in silence. I know her for too long to be able to tell when she done something bad, and better yet, when she’s trying to hide it for me.

“Fine. Okay I’ll tell you, but please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Here we go. Do you remember the men that brought us here?”

“Of course Zulema.”

“I asked them to try to find Saray for me to get in contact with her. Ekram called me yesterday when you were sleeping to tell me they found her. They’re coming here today.”

Saray. I haven’t thought about her for a long time. If Zulema and I didn’t get along in jail, Saray and I were even worse. Because at least Zulema and I found a way to forgive each other, and to be better for each other and ourselves. Were Saray and I willing to do the same? I couldn’t find the answer to that question just yet.

But then I thought about the brunette sitting right in front of me, and how much Saray meant to her. Saray was there for her and loved her way before I did, so it would be selfish of me to say that I’m against this long awaited reunion.

“Don’t worry I’m not mad. I understand that you want to see her again. And even though Saray and I are not crazy for each other, I can tell that she cares deeply about you, and that should be enough for me. And it really is.”

It doesn’t even take two seconds for her to join our lips in a long and passionate kiss. Her tongue explores every corner of my mouth and I immediately feel like my body is melting. She ends the kiss with a quick one afterwards, allowing our faces to remain close to each other for a bit.

“Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.” She is in a barely audible tone, but those words automatically make me grow a big smile on my face. 

“You don’t have to thank me. You deserve to be surrounded by people who love you, and I’m proud to be one of those people.”

“You talk like there’s many of them. It’s just you and Saray, and I don’t even deserve you two.”

“Stop saying that kind of thing. And besides, you don’t need anybody else, we’ll give you enough love the two of us.” Zulema blushes and with that my heart gets warmer. I always find so adorable the way she blushes, even though it’s very rare.

(...)

A few hours have passed since Zulema told me Saray was coming to our house, and even though I wasn’t completely happy with that, I decided it would be nice to prepare a nice lunch to receive her. Obviously, I wasn’t doing that for Saray herself, but for Zulema, because despite how hard she was trying to hide it, I knew she was looking forward to seeing her friend again, after so many years, so I wanted to contribute as much as I could for the encounter to be the best it could possibly be. It would be a lie to say that I was a good cooker, Zulema was way better than me, but in my head if I followed the recipe from the cooking book, the chances of falling would be really low.

And yet I still managed to mess it up.  
“No, it tastes really good.” Zulema mumbles whilst tasting the food.

“Then why is your twitching like that?”

“Ok, it’s just a little bitter, but it’s eatable. Almost.”

“Well this is really frustrating, I followed all the steps on the recipe. I’ll just start from the beginning.” I tell her, conscious that it was possible to notice the disappointment I was feeling in my voice.

“Maca, please let me take care of the food. I enjoy cooking, you know that, why don’t you tidy up the house?”

“You and I both know that there’s nothing to tidy up. Let me at least help you, I need to start learning how to cook at one point, it might as well be now.”

She considers my request for a bit. “Fine, but you can’t get in my way, otherwise she’ll be here and the food won’t be done.”

I nod. She starts cutting different vegetables and putting them inside the pan. “Let me do that, that’s easy enough.” She hands me the knife and sends me a quick smile before turning to one of the cabinets. “I’ll prepare the rest of the lasagna then.”  
We stay in silent for some minutes, before I decide to break it.

“So, does Saray even know about us?” I ask her without daring to face her.

“Well I heard we were on the news for some time because of the heists, but I don’t think she watches much TV so there’s a big chance that she doesn’t even know we’re together.”

Together.

That simple word echoes in my head before I gather enough courage to answer her. “And what do you mean exactly with “together?”

“You know, living together, isn’t it obvious?” 

“Oh, yeah you’re right. Do you think she’ll be upset?” I ask immediately to try to disguise my embarrassment because of her answer. 

I wondered if all the times we kissed, we slept together, everything, meant nothing to her. And it would shatter my heart into pieces if that was the case, because I know it meant something to me. It meant more that I cared to admit. However, I know it’s harder for her to open up than it is for me, and I couldn’t really blame her for that. Zulema never really experienced any type of affection, not even from her parents, but I was willing to correct that. That was also why I thought Saray’s visit was so important.

“I don’t think there’s a reason for her to be upset, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she were. But you don’t have to worry about that, everything will go just fine.”  
“Yeah you’re right. I’m finished here. I’m gonna take a quick shower.” I leave without waiting for an answer.

Zulema’s Pov

I try my best to keep my calmness towards the situation, specially because I don’t want to make Maca even more nervous. But in reality, I was just as nervous as her, if not more. I’ve changed a lot since I last saw my friend, and I was afraid to come out as disappointed, because, somehow, I felt weaker, smaller than what I used to be, than I was with Saray, who always admired me for my perseverance and strength, but now I couldn’t help but to blame myself for how the last heist went, how Flaca died because of my selfishness. I never gathered enough courage to opened up to Maca about that, particularly because I know she blames me as well, and I couldn’t blame her.

Suddenly, we hear the doorbell ringing. I make a quick attempt to control my breathing and slowly start walking towards the door. I open it and as soon as I see her I feel like my heart could explode with such joy.

Without saying anything, I instantly jumped into her arms and hugged her as tightly as I possibly could. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, before finally facing each other properly. 

“I can’t believe you’re in front of me after all this time. I’ve missed you so much, Moorish Queen.” I start laughing. Having her standing in front of me made me realize that I missed her more than I thought I did, and now we were reunited at last.

And she looked absolutely stunning. I always thought she was a beautiful woman, but now she had a different type of beauty, a different kind of light upon her. The freedom obviously suited her.

“You look beautiful.” These are my first words directed to her.  
“I can say the same to you. The long hair looks good on you.” I smile in response. Suddenly I hear the bathroom door opening and my anxiety increases again. Maca walks in wearing only a red silky robe, and just as I was expecting, she freezes when she realizes Saray is there.

“What is she doing here?” Saray asks frowning.


	6. The sun reflecting on her skin

Maca’s Pov

“Hi Saray.” She doesn’t answer, and simply remains with a very serious face. Saray and I didn’t left things on a good note before she left prison. It was one of the usual arguments about Rizos, where she threatened me to stay away from her girlfriend, because she would figure it out a way to get her out of there. That never happened. Rizos is still in jail but I bet Saray’s grudges towards me are still here as well. 

“Maca and I are living together,this..” she gestures around the place “... is our house.”

“You two, living together? In a cottage in France like a lesbian couple?” I can sense a certain mocking in her tone, but I had to control myself, for Zulema.

“Saray, do you want to move this conversation- this very amusing conversation, may I add- to the couch? I reckon you had a very long trip and you must be exhausted.” I try to smile in the most genuine way I can. Without giving me an answer she sits in the couch, and Zulema sits right next to her. I decide that, at least for now, it would be better if I stayed on the opposite side, even though the couch is quite small.

“So Zule, how did this beautiful love story began in the first place? I’m dying to know.”

I let Zulema tell the story, since I knew Saray didn’t have any interest listening to me talking. 

“Well, it all started when Maca came to Cruz del Norte to pick me up when I was released. After that we followed our lives separately working to receive a misery they called payment. Once I realized that kind of life really wasn’t for me, I looked for her and we agreed on creating a type of society between the two of us, egalitarian of course.”

“Of course.” I say to her with a smile, which she responds with a smile and a little wink. Saray looks at the scene with a confused expression on her face.

“And now explain to me how you went from that society thingy to the thing that’s happening right now that I can’t even explain what it is, but I do know that you look like two hippie housewives.”

“So, for two years we made a few heists, and for that to happen, we needed to be together to organize them properly, so we rented a little van in the middle of nowhere, just like this cottage. I guess that’s where we bonded, you may say.” 

Saray looks at the both of us a few times before talking.

“How cute. So, now you two are dating?”

“We’re not dating, but I don’t think we can say that we’re just friends. But to be honest I don’t really want to talk about that right now.” I understand why she said that, but it still hurted a bit. 

“I’m gonna make some tea, do you want some?” I ask as I’m approaching the kitchen.

“Yes please.” They answer in unissin. They continue the conversation between the two of them, and I don’t pay attention to what they’re saying, until Zulema asks her something that genuinely interests me.

“And how long will you be staying with us?”

“Well I don’t know exactly to be honest, I obviously don’t want to be a weight for you both.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we’re happy to have you here as long as you want to stay. But you will have to sleep on the couch, because Maca needs to sleep on a more comfortable place.”

“And why is that?”  
“Well…” Zulema doesn’t finish the sentence, and I understand that she realized that maybe I didn’t want Saray to know about my pregnancy. But that didn’t really affect me, so I finish the sentence for her.

“Because I’m eight weeks pregnant.”

“Wow.” She says in awe. “And who is the father? Zulema?” She starts laughing uncontrollably.

“How funny. I see you didn’t lose your sense of humor.”

“And I see you didn’t win one.” 

We stare at each other for a moment, before Zulema breaks the silence.

“We should probably eat, I’m starving. You two can sit down, in peace, and I’ll get the food.”

Saray’s Pov

It was impossible to deny the tension in the air between me and the blondie. I felt guilty to be contributing for said tension, but I was only trying to make sure she was the right person for Zulema. Despite all the mistakes she made in the past, she deserved to be with someone who genuinely loves her, and I still needed to make sure Maca was that person. I couldn’t deny that Zulema seemed happy, but I needed to make sure that happiness wouldn’t be temporary, that it would be something worth living. 

Nevertheless, the lunch was pleasant enough: the food was delicious and their house was indeed really nice. However, it still struck me as odd being in the presence of their relationship. I understand what they see in each other, and how the fact that they tried to kill each other multiple times before may have contribute to the thrill of this new stage of their lives as “couple”. It was not my intention whatsoever to break up whatever they had, but simply to make sure that they would be ok, specially because there would be a child in this house in a few months.

“Well, I think I’m going to take a quick shower and I’ll be right back, is that ok?”

“Yes of course, don’t worry about it.” Maca answers with indifference.  
Before she walks her way to the bathroom, Zulema leans towards me, and whispers: “Please don’t pick a fight with her, there’s no reason to do that. Not anymore.” And starts walking afterwards.

“I think I’m gonna do the dishes while she’s showering.” She states as she is getting up.

“I’ll help you.”

“No, I really don’t need help.”

“Maca, please don’t be stubborn, I really don’t want to fight with you right now. You’re pregnant, the only thing you should be doing right now is resting, so at least let me help you.”

“Fine.” 

I start taking the dirty plates and silverware of the table and she starts doing the dishes. I reckon that now that we were alone it would be the perfect time to ask her a few things that I was curious about.

“So, would you care to tell me what are your intentions with Zule?”

She immediately looks at me, smirking. “You’re not her mother, Saray.”

“You’re right, I’m not. But I’m the closest she has to a family, and even though I know you don’t like it, I worry about her and I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“The fact you say it bothers me your worries about her just shows that you really don’t know me, because if you did, you’d know that all I want is for her to know that there’s people that care about her. You and I might have our problems and there’s no need to solve them, but we can at least agree on wanting to protect Zulema. That’s all I really want right now.”

“I still fail to understand how all of the sudden she became such an important person for you in such a short period of time.”

“Those two years meant a lot for both of us, Saray. A lot happened, good things and bad things and we built our relationship around those things. We didn’t have anything to lose, we destroyed every single thing the other had, and since there was nothing else to erase, we might as well try to build something together.  
Zulema’s Pov

The rest of the evening is surprisingly peaceful, making me wonder what the two women talked about while I was on the shower, but considering the fact that they were laughing and talking to each other in a very relaxed way, I assumed that their conversation went really well, and that was a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

When we all decide to go to sleep and after we help Saray organize her stuff and make the couch comfortable enough for her to sleep in, we say goodnight and go to our bedroom.

“I think it went really well, don’t you?” I inquire whilst taking off my clothes, to change into my pajamas. But before I could actually get dressed, I sense Maca’s lips tracing a small path on my naked back. I turn to face her and giggle as I ask “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw you this morning in that dress.”

“Oh really? I didn’t even think you had noticed it.” She says as she wraps her arms around me.

“Of course I did. I notice everything about you.” She gets her face close enough to mine for our lips to lightly touch, making my whole body feel a quick but strong electric current. 

I swiftly take her shirt to notice that she wasn’t wearing any bra. I join our bodies close enough for our nipples to softly rub against each other, making that electric current run once again through my whole body, and I can tell she felt it too. Almost telepathically we move things to the bed, where she lays down and i sit right next to her and stare at her for a minute.

“What?” She asks with curiosity.

“I just can’t get over how beautiful you are.” I answer as I reach for a lock of her hair and run it through my fingers. As I’m looking at her, she grabs the pack of cigarettes on my nightstand and lights it and hands it to me. 

After I return the cigarette, she faces me and as my finger reaches for her nipple and my mouth reaches for hers, and we start a passionate kiss. With my free hand I grab her hair and pull it lightly, which makes her smile between kisses. I break the kiss reaching the middle of her thighs and begin up and down movements with my tongue. The sound of her moans invade my ears as soon as her body starts squirming and I can’t help but to appreciate them like they’re the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. She reaches for my hair whilst her other hand holds onto the gray sheet, and from her mouth come out a sequence of sighs and moans.

Maca’s Pov

When are faces are finally near each other again, the brunette quickly switches our positions, putting me on top of her, making our bodies completely attached to each other, adn with that I could feel how fast her heart was beating. With that, I deposit a small kiss on her chin, before staring at her eyes and joining our noses, making her smile and deposit a soft kiss on my lips afterwards. She then pushes the blanket up to cover my body, and puts her arms around me. These little demonstrations of affection from her always come as a surprise, but nevertheless they make me feel like I was the most loved person on this earth, and that is something I never thought I would feel again.Or rather, to feel ever. Spending this time with Zulema made me question my feelings towards the people I’ve been with before, Simón, Rizos and even Fábio. Looking back, I don’t think I really loved any of them, I just felt the urge to be loved, and to fulfill the loneliness I had inside of me. 

In the morning, the light coming from the window reflected all over Zulema’s naked body. With the tip of my finger I softly touch her body that was warm from the heat of the sun upon her, starting from the neck and to her thighs to then pay attention to her face.

“Good morning.” She says once she starts waking up. It was slightly upsetting to see how she looked so beautiful even after waking up.

“Good morning. Do you think Saray is already up?” As soon as I say that, the smell of coffee invades my nostrils, making us both wake up and go to the kitchen, where we find her making pancakes and brewing coffee. 

“Good morning lovebirds! Here.” She puts two plates full of pancakes and two cups of coffee in the balcony. “From what I’ve heard you two clearly had a very agitated night, so you might as well regain some of that energy you used last night. Ah and I made decaf for the pregnant lady. Bon appetit!”

Zulema and I immediately face each other and we’re obviously both blushing. We were about to face some very long couple of weeks.

“I think I’m gonna eat later, I’m not really hungry right now, but it does smell really good. I really need to take a shower right now, but just leave the plate here and I’ll eat once I get back.”

“As you wish.” Saray says with a smile, occupying the sit next to Zulema, where I was before I got up.

Zulema’s Pov

“So... how was the night?” She asks me with a malicious smile, making me blush again.

“I’m not giving you the details Saray, I think you already know too much.”

“Okay then at least explain to me what exactly is going on between you too, because I still can’t understand it.” She gets a bit closer to me. She had the right to know, I owed her that. 

The only thing is that I don’t even know the answer myself. I obviously had feelings for her, but was I ready to get committed to a relationship, and was she too? I guess the committing part wouldn’t be so hard, specialling due to the fact that we don’t have much contact with anyone else apart from each other, and I really didn’t need anyone else.

“I don’t really know where we stand, but… I have feelings for her, and in a way, I think these feelings started ever since we first met, but I wasn’t ready to accept them at the time because as you know I had other priorities. But after all we’ve been through these last two years, together, and because of that I’ve changed, just like I changed my priorities."

Saray’s smile to my response makes me realize that my answer pleased her, because unlike me, she always thought I deserved to me happy.

“I always knew this is what you were meant for.”

“Meant for what?”

“For love. And I’m happy to see you like this, but I will be keeping an eye on you two while I’m here.”

“I was expecting that, but please don’t be hard on Maca. I beg you, she makes me really happy.”

“Don’t worry I’ll be gentle, and you have no idea how happy I am to hear that.”


	7. Hot chocolate and a radio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi:) I just wanted to say that very happy to see so many of you enjoying this. Besides the zurena one shot that I wrote before (that's also in my profile, if you want to check it out), I never shared any of my writing, so it's really gratifying to see people liking it.  
> Also, please do keep in mind that this is supposed to be a light, heart-warming story, so don't read it and expect any big drama. I started writing this because I felt that the spin-off could have shown us a lot more of their life together during those two years, and since that didn't happen, I decided to write my own story.  
> Enjoy this chapter!

Zulema’s Pov

After my little heart to heart conversation with Saray, I couldn’t help but to feel a lot lighter, and more certain of what I wanted in this new life. I wanted to be with Maca, the woman sitting next to me in the couch crying because of a stupid romance movie that didn’t even make much sense.

“Did he really gave up his life as an angel to be with her. God, men really are the dumbest creatures on earth.” I couldn’t really understand why her and Saray wanted to watch this movie in the first place.

“Shut up Zulema, it’s romantic.” Macarena looks at me with teary eyes.

“I’m not surprised to see Maca crying at this, but I didn’t expect you would do the same Saray.” I look at her, and notice that she is crying perhaps even harder than Maca. “I’m really disappointed at you Saray.” Saying that, she throws at me one of her dirty tissues, that goes straight to my face.

“Ew! You’re disgusting and I’m done with this movie, I’m going outside for a bit.” I grab my pack of cigarettes on the coffee table before exiting the house. 

It’s chilly outside and the sun is going down. I sit down on the swing and light my cigarette, looking at the house and its surroundings, as a way to absorb everything. We’ve been living here for a few days only and it already feels like home to me. Maybe it’s because of who I share the home with. The whole thing just felt too good to be truth, and a part of me was always expecting everything to be destroyed in a matter of seconds. Whenever I was sitting on the couch with her or just cooking, I was in a constant fear imagining the police breaking the door and sending us once again to that hellhole, or someone getting back at us and shooting us right there. But one thing was sure, I would never let anything happen to Maca and the baby. 

I’m taken of my thoughts when the door of the house opens, revealing two incredibly cheerful women, carrying a couple of blankets, three mugs and my radio.

“What are you two doing here?” I ask with curiosity. “Is the movie over?”

“No, but we wanted to keep you company, is that allowed?” Saray inquiries as Maca and herself spread the two blankets right in front of me, and lay on top of them. Maca then hands me a cup of hot chocolate, and sips a bit of her own. I take the radio of her lap and look through the radio stations, until I find one playing old songs. “Time after time”, by Cyndi Lauper is currently playing. I love that song, especially the lyrics, they gave me a sense of nostalgia for something I’ve never lived, but it was a good feeling nevertheless.

I drink some of the chocolate and its warmth makes my body relax. I lean my head in one of the swing ropes and face the two women.

“I’m really glad you guys are here.” I tell them timidly. I just felt the need to say that, because it couldn’t be more true. I was with the two only people in this world who actually cared for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

“And we’re glad to be here with you.” The blonde woman answers, lightly caressing my thigh.

We stay outside for most of the night, after putting some candles on the floor in order to avoid being completely in the dark. We talk about multiple things, sing along to some songs on the radio and drink some more hot chocolate.

“And how is your daughter and your wife?” Maca asks Saray after we finish singing along to a Fleetwood Mac song.

“Well, Estrella has turned into a gorgeous woman and she now has a boyfriend which is something I’m not too pleased about but what can you do right. And Mariza is doing really well too.”

“What does she do for a living?”

“She is a writer, and a really good one. She is just finishing her third book.”

“What does she write about?” I ask.

“Would you guys believe it if I told you she writes crime novels?” I burst into laughter, since I found that to be absolutely hilarious.

“Well I guess that actually makes sense, does she take inspiration from you?” Maca inquiries in a mocking tone.

“Actually yes. She even used as a part of her second book that time I beat up Valbuena’s ass. Her main character in that book, a kick ass police officer is based on me.” Even though I wasn’t present at this moment, hearing her talk about a moment that took place in Cruz del Sur makes a shiver run through my spine.

“You? A police officer? That’s really ironic.”

“I mean I do consider myself a sort of retributive, so I guess it does make sense.” She says laughing, even though I know she means it.

“Sure.” I say, still laughing. I was glad to see life was treating my friend so well, she deserved it, especially all she went trough in prison, particularly with Rizos. She deserved to be in a loving relationship, and Mariza seemed to give her that, I gathered for the way her eyes shined every time she talked about her wife.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt a little jealous, jealous because I don’t see myself having that type of conventional marriage, and even though that’s not what I wanted about five years ago, that’s what I want now. I want to be able to spend the rest of my life with someone I love, and to be able to do everything with that person and I would be lying if I said I didn't imagine that person to be Maca.

Once we go back inside, the sun is already going up, so we decide it’s time to go sleep. When we’re already in bed, Maca tells me that she thinks we should decorate the porch and try to grow a garden, since all the plants outside are dead, due to the fact that cottage has been unoccupied for a long time.

“Decorating the porch is something I can get behind, but I’m not doing that garden thing.”

“Why not?” She asks with disappointment.

“Look at me, can you really see me gardening?” I point at myself in order to make my argument clearer.

“I didn’t imagine you living in a cottage with me either. But here we are. Zulema, you have to allow yourself to try out new things, otherwise you’ll never evolute as a human being.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t want to evolute in any away. I’m fine like this.”

“I know you’re not being honest, and we’re doing this anyways. We’ll go out to the center and get some things for the porch and the garden. I bet Saray will want to come with us.”

I decide it was better to not give her an answer, because I knew that it was an argument that I wouldn’t win. Besides, she was right, gardening didn’t seem like such an awful thing to do. Specially if I was going to do it with her.

Maca’s Pov

I wake up with the sun of twelve am hitting on my face, yet Zulema is still sleeping, so I decide to stay there for a bit simply because I like to watch her sleep, not in a creepy way, but because I like to be able to pay attention to every detail on her almost heavenly face. I lift my indicator to reach for her face, starting with her forehead, and going to her nose. She always tells me she doesn’t care for her nose, but in my opinion it’s exactly what makes her face so beautiful. Her nose looked like the ones greek women had in the classical era, and it gave her that austere appearance.  
As soon as my finger is on the tattoo below her eye, she lazily starts opening her eyes and gives me the biggest smile, which I obviously return.

“Do you think a lot about her?” I reluctantly ask as my finger is still on the black inked mark.

“Every single day ever since I lost her for the first time. And every damn day I feel the guilt because I was weak and selfish and didn’t fight hard enough for her, and that’s why I lost her when she was born and the same thing happened to her in the second time.” When she finishes talking, a tear falls down from the same eye of the tattoo, and I notice her lips are trembling.

“I know that there’s nothing you can do to bring her back, but you can still make up for those mistakes, if you are willing to accept what I’m about to offer you.” I had no idea what she could possibly offer me, but with such guilt and sorrow as I was feeling, I’d accept anything.”

“What is it?” 

“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me you won’t say no right away, and that you’ll take some time to think about it.”

“You’re really freaking me out here but fine, I promise.”

“Okay. I want you to be the mother of this child.”

“What?!?” I waited for her to start laughing and to tell me that was just some stupid joke, but that moment never came. She couldn’t possibly ask me that, we were not even in a relationship and I think I proved more than once that being a mother really wasn’t for me

“Maca, you can’t just ask me such thing like this, out of the blue. We’re not married, god we’re not even in a proper relationship.”

“Then let’s change that” Let’s be in a relationship! It couldn’t be more clear that we want each other, and that we would be happy together. That’s all I want Zulema, and I know you want that as well.”

“I don’t know if you remember but I gave you an abortion a few years ago.”

“I know perfectly well what you did, but I also know that you’re redeeming yourself, and I think you being a mother for this baby would be a perfect opportunity for that. Look, I’m not asking you to give me a answer right away. I still have about seven months to go, you can tell me whenever you want, I just want you to think about it.”

“Okay fine, I’ll think about it. And about the relationship thing, is that what you really want?”

“Zulema, we’ve living together for the past two years and above that we even share the same bed. We’ve kissed and had sex more times than I can actually count. I think you and I have been in a relationship for a long time now, we just didn’t want to admit it.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“And you, do you want that too?” Maca asks me as she holds my hand. Of course I wanted that, I wanted that more than everything in this world. To be able to call her my girlfriend was a privilege I would allow myself to have, by accepting her proposal. I couldn’t be any happier.

“Of course I want that. Let’s do this.”

“What a romantic way to accept it Zulema.”

“Hey you already know how I am.”

“You’re right, and I’m happy to know my girlfriend so well.” She leans to kiss me, and after that intense but incredibly cheerful conversation, we decide to stay in bed for a little while.


	8. The green couch

Zulema’s Pov

After our conversation, I couldn’t help but to feel a kind of relief in my mind, now that I knew where we stand in their relation. Girlfriends, what a wonderful word, and we couldn’t be happier to mention each other with that word. Of course we only had Saray to be able to mention us like that, but it was still nice to know what we were. 

Once we get out of bed, Maca makes us immediately go to the center in order to get the gardening things she needed and the stuff for the porch. We arrive to the store and my head starts hurting from all the noise, it was a saturday, so I guessed it made sense that there were so many people in here. 

“We better get the gardening things just to get that out of the way.” I say already looking for the gardening aisle.

“Don’t talk about it that way expecting that you’ll get away with it, we’re doing this Zulema.”

“Yeah I know, I don’t know why I even try to argue with you.”

“I don’t know either Zule, the blondie clearly is the boss in the relationship.” Saray says with a grin, putting her arm around Maca’s shoulders.

“Hey” First of all there’s no boss in this relationship, and hypothetically, if there were a boss it would be me, and second of all, get your hand of my girlfriend.” I say like I’m joking, even though I’m really not.

“Girlfriend? Wow, so you finally made it official, I’m glad, it was all getting too confusing for my taste. Very well you two.” She says laughing as she lowers her arm.

“Very funny Saray, let’s go now.”

We take about an hour solely in the gardening aisle, as Maca takes her time to decide which products to get, acting like she knows everything about the subject, when in fact I was sure she was just as confused as me and Saray. Nevertheless, I decide not to hurry her, specially because I like to look at her expressions whilsts she’s reading the product’s instructions, forming a small wrinkle on her forehead and making her mouth open slightly as she mutters what she’s reading. 

When we’re finished at that aisle, we go to the outdoors decor one, and as soon as I lay my eyes upon the section, something gets my attention. This beautiful wooden couch with olive green pillows on top of them that it’s not to big nor too small, it was just perfect.

“We have to get this one. It would look good on the porch, wouldn’t it?” I quickly ask.

“Yeah I suppose it would, it’s really nice.” She says as she grabs one of the pillows to feel its texture.  
“I know. Well then that’s settled, let’s pay.” I grab the box with the couch and the pillows.

“What? No we need to buy more things, only the couch there would look really dull.” Saray says.

“Oh god, this is just really boring, let’s get this over with. Look Maca we stole a bunch of diamonds so just take whatever you want without even looking at the prices and let’s go. I’m starving.” I say impatient, I absolutely going shopping

“Don’t talk so loudly!” She makes a gesture like she’s trying to shush a child. “You’ll just have to wait Zulema, we need to figure out what would look good with the couch, I wanted some fairy lights and candles like the ones we had in the van.” She ends up smiling as she remembers the van, which I smile back. In that van, without even being aware of it at the moment, was where our relationship started, where we slept together for the first time and where we kissed for the first time. A lot of good memories. But now, in our little cottage, I was determined to make much more.

…

Once we arrive at the cottage we start to decorate the porch right away, and decide to leave the gardening for the next day. We cleaned up first, then install the fairy lights throughout the three walls, as well as placing some plants in the space. To finalize everything we put together the couch and place it on one of the corners. Everything looked precious, just like I visualized it previously, which made me really please.

“So do you wanna stay outside for a bit?” I ask without even trying to hide the enthusiasm on my voice, I just appreciated this small things life now offered me.

“I’m exhausted and I have the biggest headaches, I think I’m just gonna lay down inside for a bit.” Saray says opening the front door.

“Oh that’s too bad, but you can crash into our bed if you prefer.”

“And lay where you had sex? Yeah not a chance.” She makes a facial expression pretending she’s about to throw up.

“And what makes you think we didn’t have sex on the couch?” Zulema asks with a tone of mockery, even though we most certainly did have sex on the couch before Saray arrived.  
Without answering, Saray enters the house and shuts the door behind her, leaving Zulema and I still laughing about the whole thing.

“I’ll stay here with you rubia.” Zulema says as she sits on one of the sides of the couch. Before sitting next to her I decide to turn on the fairy lights, since it’s already getting pretty dark.

I sit right next to Zulema and rest my head upon one of her shoulders, closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of the wind on my face. Shortly after I feel one of her hands softly caressing my cheek, making a smile appear on my face. As a response, I open my eyes and lift my head in order to meet her gaze, and to then kiss her. We start and a slow and passionate kiss, making my entire body feel like it would melt at any point.

I interrupt the kiss to stare at her, and notice that tonight something in her eyes seemed different. They looked lighter, shinier, as if she little golden drips in them. Maybe it was because of the fairy lights that were reflecting some of the light into her eyes, or maybe her eyes were just the reflection of how her soul was at the moment.

Soon enough, what started as a cute and romantic suddenly turned into something perhaps a bit more exciting.

Zulema’s Pov

Feeling Maca’s weight on top of me, I allow myself to close my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the blonde woman grinding on top of me. I then feel my girlfriend joining once again our lips, introducing her tongue into my mouth right away, finishing the kiss with a strong bite on my bottom lip, leaving it aching for a bit. Maca then reaches for my top and takes it off using one of her hands, making me pull her hair afterwards in order to get her closer, connecting my mouth with her neck, sucking the area, moving then to her earlobe, leaving a small bite mark there. Maca proceeds to take my shorts, taking my underwear with them. In order to tease me, her fingers softly trace my thighs for a couple of seconds before introducing two of her fingers inside me, making me moan instantly. As soon as she starts slow, but consistent movements, I quickly begin to roll my hips fast with despair in order to gain even more contact with the woman fucking me. I lose the control I had remain as Maca hastens her fingers inside me. With her free hand, Maca wraps it around my neck, tightening it up for a few seconds with a considerable amount of strength, making me one roll my eyes with pleasure, being left with the feeling that my body was about to burst into flames.

…

After we’re done, Maca falls asleep on my chest, as I’m caressing her hair. Feeling our naked bodies attached to each other made me feel all kinds of things, and not in a sexual way but in a way that was too special for me to be able to put it into words. I never had such intimacy with someone, and to able to have it with someone so incredible as Macarena was a privilege, a privilege I was committed to never give up. I just couldn’t believe how lucky I’ve been, for her to step into my life, in circumstances that even though weren’t the most favorable for either of us, were the ones that lead us here, and I was so grateful for that. 

I interrupt my thoughts as the door that leads to the porch opens, to find a very disgusted Saray.

“Shit Zulema! Couldn’t you two wear at least something afterwards?

“Shhh, you’re going to wake her up.” I tell her quietly, ignoring what she said before. I lower my face a bit to try to face Maca. “Isn’t she precious?” I ask with a shy smile on my face.

“I guess, but it would be a lot easier to answer to that question if I wasn’t staring at her bare ass right now.” After saying that, she lets out a small laugh and goes back inside.

We stay like that for a little while longer, just enjoying each other’s bodies connected, and how lucky we were to be there.


	9. Gardening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you're all doing well and still enjoying the story. I'm trying to be as much consistent as I can with the updates, but if that starts failing I just want to tell you guys that's because on monday I'm gonna start studying for the history exam I'm taking on the 10th of july, so it might be arm for me to conciliate my studies with writing, but I'm gonna try my best.  
> That's it for now, enjoy the chapter :)   
> (my twitter: @chaionearth)

Zulema’s Pov

We woke up at around 8am the next day, in order to get started on the garden. I couldn’t say I was exactly exciting to do it, but if that made Maca happy, that I was at least willing to learn. She made Saray help us as well, which made the task slightly less dull.

“Saray, you simply have to use the shovel to take some of the soil for us to plant the things, it isn’t that hard. Stop using your hands!! For god’s sake Saray.” Maca starts yelling as she hands Saray one of the shovels. Turns out I was wrong, this would be fun.

Maca made us wear rain boots as well as hats, even though it wasn’t raining and during the rest of the day, we plant some vegetables and plants. The afternoon arrives and I feel blisters in my hands and a few mosquito bites on my arms, but it was worth it. 

I could see in Maca’s eyes that she felt incredibly proud of the work we had done throughout the whole day, and even though it wasn’t my all time favorite activity, it felt nice to finally do something for us, and not expecting a favor or to pay one, like in we had to do in prison. It was still inevitable to do that kind of comparisons, now that we had this much liberty. 

Once we get back inside the house, as I’m getting ready to take a shower, I hear my phone ringing in the living room, and run to pick it up. It was the doctor confirming the appointment I had scheduled for Maca a few days ago. Today was sunday and the appointment would be next friday, and I still hadn’t told her I had already scheduled it.

“You have a doctors appointment next friday to see if everything is okay with the baby.” I tell her as she approaches the kitchen.

“Good, I thought you hadn’t been able to schedule an appointment. Do you think they’ll be able to tell me the sex of the baby already?”

“I don’t think so, from what I’ve read they’re only able to tell that kind of information around the twelveth or fourteenth week of the pregnancy.”

“Oh so you’ve been searching stuff about pregnancy?” She asks smiling with surprise.

“Yeah of course! I just want to be prepared if anything ever happens and we’re here all alone.”

“That’s really sweet of you, thank you.” She walks towards me and hugs me, making me wrap my arms around her back, leaning my head down and burying my face in her neck. 

Maca’s Pov

“I think I’m gonna take a shower now. I feel like I have soil all over my body” Zulema says as she’s breaking the hug. 

“Do you want company?” I ask with a grin.

“Of course.”

(...)

As the water is getting warmer, we take each other’s clothes and leave them on the bathroom floor. As enter the box, I feel Zulema’s weight against my body as she pushes me into one of the walls inside of the shower. The hot water starts falling on top of both of our bodies, as Zulema grabs my waist as a way to keep our bodies closer, leaving a small bite on the nape of my neck. With one hand still holding on to my waist, she gets her own body lower in order to reach one of my nipples with her mouth, making me growl fiercely. One of my hands goes into her dark hair as my other one reaches for the shower, grabbing it tightly to give me some balance. 

As I close my eyes, I start to feel her mouth getting lower and lower until it reaches the area between my legs. The burning hot water mixed with the fast and agile movements of her tongue gives me a sensation like i’m completely out of breath and in desperation, but in the best way possible. She continues the movements with her tongue as I pull her harder and harder as I feel myself reaching the orgasm. And then that’s it, and during those few seconds, Zulema gets back on her feet and gazes at my face, like she’s appreciating that moment as much as me, and I bet she was.

We get out of the shower and after getting dressed we go back into the living room, where Saray is using Zulema’s phone to talk to someone.

“Estrella, you better be careful and tell that boyfriend of yours that if he tries anything with you I’ll personally deal with him myself like we took care of people back in prison. You tell him that.” Both Zulema and I laugh as we listen to that conversation. That has always been Saray’s way to prove her love to someone, threaten anyone near that person, and in a very crazy way, it was sweet.

When she notices Zulema’s and my presence in the room, she walks towards us and holds on to Zule’s arm.

“Talk to her.” Saray tells says handing her the phone.

“What? Why? I don’t even know her.” 

“But I want you to. Zulema you’re one of the most important people in my life, I want you to have a conversation with her at least once. Please, do it for me.” Zulema takes the cellphone from Saray’s hand, without being able to properly disguise how nervous she was. I understood how important it was for Saray for Zulema to talk to Estrella, the same reason why I wanted Zulema to be presented in the education of my own child, because she mattered to me. She was so important to me, that I wanted a part of her reflected on my own kid. 

Zulema places her phone on her right ear, looking at Saray as if she’s asking her “What am I going to say?”.

“Uhm… hello?” Zulema says quietly. 

“Yes, that’s me. It’s nice to me you too.” Unfortunately we can’t quite listen to the conversation. But it looked like it was going well.

“Yes she told me a lot of good things about you too, obviously. You don’t remember but I held you in my arms when you were still a little baby. You looked exactly like your mother. You know, I hope you realize how marvelous your mother truly is, and how much she did for you throughout these years. You are lucky to have her as a mother. Yes, one day I’ll find a way to visit you and your mothers, I promise.”

I quickly glance at Saray to find her eyes slowly tearing. It was really a beautiful moment, and one incredibly important in their friendship, I imagined. I step back a few steps and watch them, as I smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I think we're about to hit halfway of the story soon, and in a few chapters a character we all know and love will make a small but very important appearance!  
> Thank you for reading and see you all monday for a new chapter <3


	10. Men are pigs

Maca’s Pov 

Friday finally comes, the day of the doctor’s appointment. Even though I had a feeling that everything was okay with a baby, I still felt slightly nervous, specially because I wouldn’t be able to communicate directly with the doctor, since I don’t speak french, Zulema does.

It was a windy day in Normandy, so I decide to wear some jeans with a warm gray sweater, whilst Zulema wears her usual black pants with some chains, and a black hoodie with a drawing that I couldn’t even understand.

“Are you nervous?” Zulema asks me on our way on our way to the clinic.

“A little bit, yeah.” I say as I’m looking down, because I knew it didn’t make any sense to be nervous.

“Everything will go well. You’ll see.” Zulema tries to give some comfort as she lightly caresses my thigh,making me smile as a response.

Once we get to clinic, we only wait for about 15 minutes before we are seen. The doctor is a fifty year old man, really tall with piercing blue eyes and a big beard. Knowing I’m spanish, he simply waves at me and tells Zulema that I can go to the bathroom to change to the hospital gown.

Zulema’s Pov

After Maca gets changed, the doctor proceeds to ask me some routine questions, as I translate them to my girlfriend.

“And where is the father?” The doctor asks looking directly at Maca. The thing with most men is that they always feel like women need to have a masculine figure by their side in order for them to feel complete. From a single glance I could tell that doctor was that type of men.

“No father. We’re both the mothers of this child.” I say safely, because even though I haven’t given Maca a definite answer, I knew she wouldn’t be able to understand what I just said. Besides, I already knew what the answer would be, I was just waiting for the right moment.

“Oh. Very well then.” He tries to act normally, but fails miserably.

In the end of the appointment he says “Okay so everything seems to be fine, however we still can’t know the-”

“-gender of the baby yes we know. We informed ourselves. Can we go now?” I ask as I’m getting up.

“Uh yes of course, I’ll check my agenda at the end of the day and the clinic will call you to schedule the appointment for the 3 months.”

“Very well then.” I say with a tone of mockery. “Maca you can go get dressed now. We’re leaving.”

Whilst Maca was getting dressed on the bathroom next door, the tension between me and the doctor builds up in the room. I’m not able to take my eyes off him, I don’t if it’s because I’m trying to intimidate him, and obviously succeeding, or if it’s simply because I’m curious what goes into his miserable head.

“You know, you remind me a lot of the guards of one of the last prisons I was in.”

He looks at me with eyes wide open.

“No need to worry, I’ve done my time. But it’s true, you do look a lot like them.” 

Without giving him a chance to speak, Maca gets out of the bathroom and we immediately say goodbye to the doctor, and exit the room.

(...)

“How was the conversation between you and the doctor? The environment seemed a bit off.” Maca asks me in our way to the cottage.

“Men are pigs, and he is no exception.” I answer sharply.

“But why are you saying that? What did he say?”

“It doesn’t matter, really. You don’t need to worry about that.”  
We thankfully get home quicker than we thought. I never liked hospitals, and the smell of death impregnated on them. It was ironic that the same place we are born in is usually the same place we die in, and that scared me a bit. Either way, it’s also the place where we see the biggest demonstrations of love, the most honest prayers and the most desperates cries for help. 

As we are walking through the still-growing garden to go to the front door of the house, I notice that a flower has finally appeared, a beautiful, long, purple colored flower. I quickly lean forward to pick it up, and start running towards Maca.

“Here. The first flower of the garden. For you.” Maca gladly takes the flower and stares at it with tenderness. 

“Thank you.” She kisses me. “I’m gonna keep it inside the book I’m reading right now.”

1 month later

One month has passed. Maca’s belly is getting bigger, just like our anticipation to meet the baby. The days grew larger, just like our boredom. Normandy, being essentially a historical center, was a peaceful and quiet place, and we liked living there, but we also wanted to leave the city and meet other places. But it was too risky to do such thing, especially now that as each day went by we were closer to having a baby.

One afternoon, as we’re preparing dinner and I put down the plattes, we hear a strong knock in the door. We couldn’t help but to feel scared and try to prepare ourselves for worst. When I finally gather enough courage to open door, I feel a chill running through my spine, making the platte that was in my hands fall into the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it was a short now.  
> I think i'll only be able to uptade it on the end of the week because I really need to study, but I'll try to make the next one a good one and we're getting towards the end of the story!! Hope you're all doing well and if you want leave your opinions below, I read all of the comments <3  
> my twitter: @chaionearth


	11. Is there any way to get out of this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to the end!

Zulema’s Pov

Inspector Castillo. I just couldn’t believe in what my eyes were seeing, but unfortunately it was true, he was standing right in front of me and there wasn’t any way to get out of this. It was the second time in my life where I didn’t have a plan, but unlike the first time I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be that lucky. As my mouth was getting dryer I glance at Maca and Saray to absorb their expressions. Saray. She was only here because of us and she didn’t do anything, yet she might get into as much trouble as us, even though all she tried to do since she came out of prison was to live a honest life. And then there was also the baby, what would happen to the child? Probably the same thing that happened to Estrella and just that thought made my heart break a little. I couldn’t allow that to happen, to be separated from the baby and probably from Maca as well.

“How did you find us?” Was the first thing I was able to say.

“Oh it wasn’t easy believe me. Quite the work you and Maca have been doing these past few years. I wasn’t expecting to see you two together still.”

“Well I guess it’s true what they say, the opposites do get attracted to each other. Very attracted to each other.” Maca says with a smile, probably to transmit that she was calm and collected, but knowing her the way I do I know she isn’t even a bit calm.

I also noticed that, because Maca was still behind the kitchen’s counter, Castillo hadn’t noticed yet that she was pregnant. Maybe that would be our card to make him show a bit of mercy. Because I know that under those cranky eyes and awful tattoos, there was a good heart.

“You two? Dating? You’ll never stop surprising me.” I ignore his words.

“Would you care to come in inspector? Please make yourself at home.” Saray says.

Limping, he slowly walks towards the couch and sits down in one of the corners. Maca finally decides to get out of behind the balcony, exposing her belly, that it seemed like it was getting bigger by the day. When Castillo notices it, he stares at it during what it looked like an eternity, as if he was trying to decide what to do next. Hopefully it was really that.

“Fuck.” He simply says, looking at the three of us.

“What? You’re gonna say that Zulema is the father, right?”

“Something like that, yes.” Saray says laughing.

Maca continues walking towards Castillo, and when she finally reaches him, she simply leans down and hugs him. My initial thought was that she was just trying to win him over, but then I remembered how their relationship was back then. Castillo felt guilty for the death of Maca’s father, so he felt the need to get closer to her, to protect her, and I couldn’t blame him for that, because in some way I was doing the same thing. He corresponds to the hug, wrapping his arm around her tightly. 

“You’re here to arrest us?” Maca says quietly.

“To be honest I don’t even know anymore. Since the first heist my team has been trying to found you two but we never got any close. Until now. Somehow I had a feeling that you were going to be here, since it was the most unlikely place you would be, so I told them I would come alone.”

“Castillo I can’t raise my baby in jail. I just can’t. You can’t do this to us, we are laying low now, we’re simply living here in peace, we aren’t doing anything wrong.” She finally shows how desperate she was, and I was just as desperate, but I simply could disguise it better. 

“Think about it inspector, you probably will retire or even die any time soon so you won’t be losing anything.” He laughs as he rolls his eyes at my words. “Just tell your team that we weren’t here, they will definitely believe and won’t come here again. Just tell them. We can pay you as much as you want.”

“You should know by now that the bribing card doesn’t work on me Zulema.” He says with a serious expression.

“If I actually agree with this, it’s only because of Maca and the baby, I’m not doing this for you.”

“I wouldn’t wish it in any other way.” I say with a smile on my face. I just couldn’t believe that we would be that lucky. Suddenly the future seemed brighter and all the anxieties I was having disappeared.

“Thank you. I promise you won’t regret it.” Maca says hugging him once again.

“I really hope I won’t.”

“We always knew you were an angel.” Saray says between laughters.   
“Would you care to stay for dinner? It’s the very least we can do.” Maca asks him.

“I can’t, I probably should be going, or they will suspect of something. But thank you.”

He starts walking to the door and Maca walks behind him. He once again takes a quick glance at the three of us.

“The three of you are the most crazy women I’ve ever met, and that’s saying a lot. Specially you over there.” He says looking at me. I smile, and he smiles back, switching then his stare at Maca.

“Despite the circumstances I wish you the best. I know your father would be very proud of you, just like me. And I beg of you, be careful, because if there’s a next time, I will have to arrest all of you.” He says as he’s opening the door

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”

Castillo gently touches Maca’s face before exiting the door, and we are finally able to breathe.We would never have that kind of luck, so we really needed to lay low for good, at least until the baby is born.

“Maca, can I talk to you in our room?” I say as an impulse, even though I knew exactly what I was going to say.

“Yeah of course, you can start eating if you want to, Saray.”

“No that’s fine I’ll wait, I’m gonna call Mariza while you two talk.”

Once we enter the room, Maca quickly closes the door, looking at me with a tense expression, like she was waiting for bad news.

“What is it? Did something else happen?”

“No, you don’t need to worry about anything else right now. I just wanted to tell you that I thought about your “offer”, and my answer is yes.”

With a blink of an eye, her expression switches to a glorious smile, hugging me afterwards.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me.”  
“I can say the same thing. This baby we’ll be the best thing to ever happen in our lives. I’m sure of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry if the chapters are shorter, but I've been really busy!


	12. To overcome the past

1 month later

Maca’s pov

Yet another month has passed since our new life began, and also since Castillo’s little visit, and thankfully there hasn’t been any new signs from the police, and hopefully it will remain that way.

Today it’s my doctor’s appointment and we’ll finally get to know the sex of the baby, as well as Saray’s last day with us. To be honest, I’m quite sad to have to say goodbye to her. Our relationship has improved a lot in these past few weeks and I somehow got attached to her. I got to know more about Zulema through her, specially their times together in prison before I got arrested too. And Zulema was obviously even worse than me, even though she didn’t talk about it and whenever I tried to talk with her about that she simply says “I’m fine”, so I stopped trying to bring up that subject.

Nevertheless, I’m excited for today’s appointment, and hoping that things will go better between Zulema and the doctor and there isn’t that weird environment I felt because of them in the last time, even though she didn’t tell me what exactly happened. But I could imagine.

_

Once we get to the hospital, we immediately sit on the chairs of the waiting room, because my belly is already quite big, so it’s getting harder and harder to stand up for long periods of time.

As we’re waiting, I notice our doctor on the hallway talking to a woman, probably another patient. Even though, by their expressions, it looked like a serious conversation, when the doctor notices us and faces Zulema, he quickly ends his conversation and walks towards. I don’t know what the hell Zulema told him, but she really scared the man.

“Doctor, how are you in this fine, fine day?” Zulema says with a sarcastic smile.

I could swear I saw the doctor tremble with Zulema’s words. These appointments are going to be though.

Once we get into the room, the nurse comes in a hands me the clothes to get changed.

“Zulema, can you come with me please? I need you to help me.”

“Uh, sure.”

We get into the bathroom and I lock the door. “Okay now stay there and don’t do anything.”

“But I thought you needed my help.”

“I don’t. I just need you to stay still and avoid getting into trouble with our doctor.”

“What makes you think I’ll do that?”

“Zulema, I know you. I don’t know what the hell you told him but the man can’t even look into your eyes without shaking.”

Zulema laughs softly. “Well I’m glad, he definitely deserved the lesson."

“But what did he actually do?”

“That doctor is a homophobic and sexist asshole and after this appointment we're gonna look for a new doctor, preferably a woman.”

“If that’s what you want then will do that. His face doesn’t please me either.”

_

Zulema’s Pov

As Maca lays down on the stretcher, I can’t help but to feel even more excited to discover the baby’s gender. I wasn’t particularly more excited for a boy or a girl, I would be happy with both, but it was a step closer to get to know the child, and that just made me the happiest person in the world right now. 

Once the doctor starts, I quickly hold on to her hand and look into her eyes, with a smile. I could tell she was just as excited as me.  
“Ok, so are you ready to know if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

“We obviously are, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.” I regret my words when I feel Maca’s stare at me. But the doctor did have it coming.

Fortunately, the doctor ignores my words. “Ok, so here it is… it’s…”

I feel my heart pounding harder and harder with each beat.

“...it’s a girl.” We both instantly smile. A baby girl. I couldn’t believe it. My mind immediately started to wonder how she would look like. I hope she would get Maca’s blonde hair and tiny nose. 

“Congratulations.”

_

Our drive home is filled with conversations about how the baby’s room will look like, and some name choices. We were really doing this. I just couldn’t quite believe it yet, and I was still so aware that I didn’t deserve such happiness.

“Do you really want to do this?” I take my eyes of the road for a few seconds to face her.

“We’re not having this conversation again Zulema. I’ve already told you that. You have to stop beating yourself up for your past mistakes.”

“I just can’t, and I don’t think I’ll ever will.” It’s true, I could never forgive myself for what I’ve done, specially to the blonde woman next to me.

“Zulema, you fucked up, a lot in the past. But so have I. I don’t feel like you own me anything. Yes, you killed my baby,and I’ll never forget that, but then you also lost yours. You paid your price. We can’t keep having this conversation over and over again. Let’s just move forward, and take this baby girl as a way for us to make up for what we did in the past. This time, together."

I let her words sink deep into my mind, and don’t try to say anything. This child would truly be a blessing, and a way to overcome the past, but I would have to be willing for that. To forgive myself, for the woman next to me and the bay she was carrying in her womb.

_  
With all the craziness over the baby, for a few moments I forgot about something that was also very important. Saray was going to leave soon. We were already so used to having her around, that the idea of her going away didn’t seem real yet. But she has been away from her wife and her daughter, I couldn’t blame her for going, for missing her family, because as I tried to put myself into her place, I couldn’t imagine myself being apart from Maca that much time, not anymore.

When we get home, we see Saray’s things all packed up near the door, and my heart felt heavy at that sight.

“I can’t imagine this house without you.” I say as I’m trying to hold back my tears. Saray and I went through so much together, and I really didn’t want to say goodbye to her. Nevertheless, I was glad to see that the circumstances we were both in this time were actually nice, that we were both happy. For the first time, there was no betraying, no anger, no disappointment towards each other. We were just two friends saying goodbye, because we were going to miss each other.

“Yes I know, there’s no way you’ll be able to fill the emptiness I will leave in this place. But you will survive.” She says laughing. “Oh, and what you’re gonna have?”

“It’s a girl.” Maca says with a big smile on her face. With teary eyes, Saray walks towards us and huggs us at the same time. 

“I’m so happy for you. And once the baby’s born I swear I’ll come and visit you, and bring Estrella and Mariza to meet you.”

“We’ll be waiting.” Saray’s phone rings. “It’s my ride, they’re outside. I thought it would still take a few hours but oh well. I guess this is goodbye then.”

Before I’m able to find the right words I hug her once again, and hold her tightly. Even though it was in a completely different way, I loved this woman as much as I loved my girlfriend. She was the only one that, during all these years stayed by my side, and always had my back and I would never be able to thank her enough for that.

“You have no idea how much I love you.” I say softly, as I’m still holding her.

“Of course I do, because the feeling is mutual.” After we break the hug, she gently grabs my face, and places a kiss on my forehead. Then, she turns to Maca, and hugs her as well.

“In the end, I ended up liking you a lot. But I warn you that if you do any harm to Zulema I will have to deal with you in a really unpleasant way.” She says between laughs.

“Don’t worry, she’s in very good hands.”

“Taking that in the literal way I can tell you that I’m aware, these walls are incredibly thin.” We all laugh. 

Saray grabs her stuff, and takes another look at us.

“I’m really happy for your relationship, and I know everything will go well. You’re both going to be amazing mothers.”

We smile as a response, and she closes the door. 

I face Maca and notest that the both of us are about to burst into tears, so I pull her for a hug.

Now, it’s just me and her, and very soon, the baby.


	13. Painting the walls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey:) Thank you for being so patient with the updates, but I've been studying a lot so I really don't have much time right now. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

Maca's Pov

Another couple of months have quickly gone by. I'm now a bit more than eight months pregnant, and we're more eager than ever to get to know this baby. Besides the sickness and mood swings I sometimes experience, the pregnancy has been incredibly easy, and that’s definitely thanks to Zulema. 

She has never been a domestic person, but she’s the one that’s been doing all the chores around the house, and has been also able to give me tons of affection, which is something I’ve been craving a lot these past few months. It’s incredible how every day I seem to find a new side of this woman. Some days ago I was having these awful nightmares so I was barely sleeping during night time, which made me take a lot of naps during the day. So,, one day, we were watching this horrible movie on tv and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Once I was starting to wake up, I felt her around my belly and heard her talking:

“We’re gonna give you so much love once you are born. And I promise you, I’ll be the best mother you could possibly have. I’ll give you and your mother all I wasn’t able to have.”

I immediately feel my eyes getting wet, but I try to do my best in order to act like I’m still sleeping, to hear if she was going to say anything else. But she doesn’t. I consider finally opening my eyes, but then I feel the light weight of her head on my belly, and a soft kiss deposited on the place.

I open my eyes to find that she’s still in the same position, and I start to caress her hair, making her face me.

“That was very sweet.” I finally manage to say, whilst my hand is still on her hair.

“I did have a slight feeling that you were listening.” She answers with a smile on her face, and slightly blushing.

“Well don’t be embarrassed, it was lovely.” She smiles and pulls me for a kiss. She then faces me for a few seconds.

“Don’t you think we should finally start to decorate the baby’s room? I cleaned that small empty room and we bought her stuff so long ago and we never got around to do it. 

“Yeah I guess you’re right. We should at least paint it.”

We decide we should just do it right away, since I probably wouldn’t even be able to stand on my feet probably on the next month.

The baby’s future room was small, but she definitely wouldn’t need a bigger space for some time, and with some of my ideas we could turn it into something lovely.

I say with “my ideas” because Zulema’s ideas are really inappropriate for a what a baby’s room should look like. Not being a big fan of colour herself, she keeps insisting that we should paint the walls black, which really didn’t seem like her best idea, so I’m desperately trying to talk her out of it.

“I agree. I’m glad we already agreed on a colour.” Okay Maca, now it’s time to gather some courage. 

“Look Zulema I know that you already bought the black paint and that you’re really excited about it, but don’t you think the beige one we also bought would look good as well? I just don’t really like that colour for the walls.”

Her face remains serious for a bit. “Okay fine, maybe you’re right, but you have to let me choose some of the furniture.”

“Of course.”

“And absolutely no pink. I can’t stand that colour.” I let out a laugh and shake my head as an agreement. 

“Fair enough.” I was happy that we could finally make choices between us without turning such conversations into arguments. We were finally able to talk with each other without fearing some bad reaction coming from the other.

_

The baby’s room was small but comfortable, and with enough light coming from the window. The paint that was already there was getting old and some parts had a greyish tone on them, so painting them was really necessary. We already a few things for the room, like the crib, chosen by Zulema. It was made from a dark wooden, and it was big enough to fit the child for a long time.

Decorating the baby’s room was like being a step closer to meet her. I was incredibly to see how Zulema would deal with a baby, specially since she never got a chance to do these kind of things with Fátima. On one hand, I was afraid she would remember constantly about her deceased daughter, and wouldn’t be able to cope with a new one, but on the other hand, I was confident enough that she would channel that energy and become the best mother I knew she could be. She made so progress on herself throughout these last years, so I believed in her.

We begin the first brush strokes on the first coat and the room immediately feels lighter. Because I’ve gotten so big in these past few months, that with these work only I already feel my body getting immensely tired, so I try to give the biggest strokes I can in order to finish this as soon as possible. That being said, as I give one of the last strokes on the first walls, I don’t measure the strength of my arm, and end up splashing some paint all over Zulema. 

I don’t know what to expect from her reaction once it all happens, but it doesn’t take too long for a smile to show up in her face. Next thing I know, I feel a splash of paint in my body, whilst I hear Zulema’s soft laugh in my ears. 

It’s my turn to do the same thing, making Zulema laugh even harder as the paint hits her face. After that, she takes my hand and pulls me closer, joining our lips.

The kiss begins as a soft but passionate one, getting more intense as I feel her tongue entering my mouth, and her hands arriving to the end of my back. 

As things get hotter, I start feeling the area between my legs getting hotter and wet. But then, Zulema breaks the kiss and takes one step behind.

“Maca, I think your waters just broke.”

I listen to those and try to look down, noticing my trousers getting wet. I start to feel a bit dizzy and feel Zulema's arms holding me tightly, as she leads me to outside the room.

Shit. It was really happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry that they're so short right now, but after my exam on the 10th I'll be able to dedicate more time to writing, so the chapters will be longer and hopefully with better quality. Since there's only 10 days left for my exam, I won't be updating until that day, so I might post around the 11th or 12th of july, hope you can understand. I'm also already plotting some ideas for a ralicia fic and another zurena one shot, and I'm really excited to write those for you!  
> Lots of love xx
> 
> my twitter: @chaionearth


	14. Sparkles dance through her eyes

Maca’s Pov

The drive to the hospital seemed like a never-ending torture. The contractions were getting more recurrent with less span of time between them, and the pain was unbearable. Throughout the way, Zulema tried desperately to calm me down, but I could only focus on the pain I was feeling. One would expect that from all those years in prison I would get a bigger tolerance to pain, and I thought the same, but I felt like my body would shred to pieces.

When we finally get to the front door of the hospital, Zulema tries to take me off the car, but once she realizes that she can’t do it by herself she starts yelling to two nurses that were probably on their break, smoking and chatting in front of that same door. Running, the nurses get a wheelchair, and we enter the hospital.

_

Once we finally get to one of the stretchers, a doctor immediately comes to see me, making sure that I was already ten fingers dilated. Unfortunately, I still had two fingers to dilate, so it seemed like I had to endure that pain for a little longer. 

Laying down on the stretcher, I mentally try to calm myself down. My mind was a total blank, and I could only feel my anxiety crippling into my body, wondering if the delivery would go well, and also focusing on this awful pain. When the pain finally allows me to take a glance at Zulema, I notice that brunette is already staring at me, with a concerned expression in her face.

“Everything will be ok soon. I’m very proud of you for enduring all of this.” Zulema says, whilst her expression slowly softens, maybe to give more truth to her words. 

“Thank you. Not just for being here with me right now. But for everything you’ve been doing these past few months.” I say between moans of pain, reaching for a hand.

Once my hand finally reaches hers, she takes it close to her mouth, placing a light kiss on it. I smile.

“There’s no other place I rather be right now.” I don’t know if it’s my crazy hormones or all the anxiety and lack of sleep, but when those words come out of her mouth, tears start coming out of my mouth. A few seconds later, I realize that I’m full on sobbing.

“Hey Maca, come on, what’s wrong? Calm down please.” Zulema says, getting closer to me.

“I’m sorry, I’m just really thankful for you, and how we’ve been handling everything. I never thought we would experience this together.”

“Yeah me neither. That’s what I love about life, it never fails to surprise us. Now stop crying, you know I can’t stand people crying.” She says with a serious, but immediately starts laughing. A beautiful, heavenly sound.

_

A couple of hours slowly go by, and I’m on my limit with my pain. Thankfully, as I’m about to burst into tears again, the doctor that would deliver the baby comes into the room.

“Okay, let’s check if we’re ready now.”

After some seconds of discomfort the doctor finally says that I’m ten fingers dilated. Listening to the doctor’s words, I finally realize that this is real. This is happening. I’m about to have a baby, with Zulema. How did we get here? The woman who made me lose my first kid, who made my life a living hell for a couple of years.

And the craziest thing was that I didn’t have second thoughts about this. The only thing I could picture in my head was a future with Zulema and our daughter that was about to be born. Zulema and I both had scars, that we made to each other, and once we learned to let our guards down, we allowed ourselves to heal those scars. We made each other go through hell for years, and we aren’t trying to erase our past together, but to make our future together brighter, more beautiful. I’ll never forget what I lost because of Zulema, just like Zulema won’t forget what she lost because of her, but we were willing to use those mistakes as strength, and to give nothing to each other, but love and support.

_

The birth begins and my idea that contractions were the most painful thing I’ve ever felt was completely erased. This was way worse. I felt my entire being heating and sweating and I reached a point where I could barely see. The doctor and the nurses kept telling me to push and push, but I had no strength left in my body. I was mentally calling myself weak for not pushing harder, but I just felt too exhausted. I was completely disconnected from my surroundings, like I was being tortured from the inside of my body, all by myself.  
Suddenly a voice brings me back to reality.

“Maca. Hey, you can do this. You just need to push a little harder, and you’ll see that our baby girl we’ll be here very soon.” Zulema says. I feel her hand gripping mine thightly, and with those words I find the motivation that I needed to push the hardest I possibly can. 

After several pushes, several hours, several tears and drops of sweat, the baby is finally here. I take a few minutes to regulate my breathing and heart palpitations, and once I finally feel a little more like myself, the doctor puts the baby on my arms.

I feel like I’m out of breath again. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She was so small, I felt like I could hold her with only one arm, and she had that sweet baby sense. Her nose was small, just like her mouth and her tiny fingers and she had just a few strings of hair. She was perfect, and somehow, she reminded me of Zulema. Maybe because the baby was holding a frown on her face, but she managed to be the most adorable and beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, just like the woman sitting next to me.

I finally look at Zulema, who is in awe looking at the baby. Sparkles dance through the iris of her eyes, along with tiny drops of tears refusing to come out. 

Until they finally do. I stare at her for a little longer, and she gets closer to me, joining our foreheads, and placing carefully one hand on top of the baby’s head. I look at the baby again, until the brunette gets once again my attention.

“Maca.” 

“What?” I ask, looking at her once again.

“I love you.”

I feel my heart pounding harder inside my chest, as I let those words sink deep into it. But it doesn’t take me to long to answer.

“I love you too.”


	15. A ray of sunshine

Zulema’s Pov

“I love you too.” 

Hearing those words, I feel like my world finally makes some sense. Maybe it sounds cliché, but to finally realize that someone actually loves me, gives me some purpose in this life and that despite my mistakes, and there’s a lot of them, maybe I do deserve forgiveness, especially now that I realize that I have reasons to keep fighting, keep getting better every single day. Those reasons are the blonde right next to me, and the beautiful baby she’s holding in her arms. They’re the reason for me to not give up, to accept my demons but to not surrender to them.

“Here. Hold her.” My thoughts disappear into a blur once I listen to Maca. I hesitate for a bit, but proceed to hold her, carefully. She was my daughter after all. As crazy as that sounds. 

As I’m holding her, I feel like I’m out of breath. How can someone so little, so innocent, mean so much, and have so much power in our lives? I watch her, as she breathes softly, with her eyes closed and mouth wide open. It reminded me of Maca sleeping. I smile at that memory.  
“Have you thought of a name yet?” I ask Maca, trying to focus on her.

“I was going to ask you for suggestions, but then I remembered the perfect name for her.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if you’re gonna agree, but I just think that it is the only name that actually means something.”

“Let me guess then. Sole.” I tell her. That choice had crossed my head for a while, and I too thought it was perfect.

“Yes, Sole. How did you know?” She says with surprise on her face.

“Because I know you blondie. And I think it’s an amazing choice.” It was true, I did think it was a spectacular choice for a name. Back in prison, everyone hated me, Maca too, for some time. However, Sole always tried to see the best in me, despite my errors. She prayed for me, gave me advices and some words of wisdom, and even though I didn’t follow any of them, it felt nice to feel like someone cared for me. I never had a proper mother, but Sole somehow managed to soothe that pain I had for a while.

I turn my attention back to Sole. She still has her eyes closed, but one of her hands is moving, slowly unfolding her fingers, and softly touching my hand that was lightly on top of her belly. I smile to the feeling of her hand in mine. I face Maca, who’s watching the two of us with a big smile.

“What?” I ask quietly, but laughing, even though I know the answer.

“You’re great with her. I didn’t even know you could hold a baby properly.”

“Very funny blondie. I’m quite skilled at this parenting thing. You’ll see.” I wink at her. 

_

Maca’s Pov

We stay at the hospital until the next morning, just for the doctors to check if everything’s fine with Sole and I. 

The way to our home is peaceful and quiet. The baby sleeps throughout the whole trip. 

Once we get home,the baby starts crying and I can’t help but to feel a little stressed out. I breastfed at the hospital and even though it was a bit uncomfortable it seemed easy enough, so that wasn’t the reason for my anxiety. It was all so new, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to measure up to this whole task. Even Zulema looked more calm than me. When I got pregnant for the first time I was a completely different person, and that child was the only thing I was holding on too. At that time, I was convinced that I was a good woman, who didn’t deserve to be in jail and that had better principles than everyone inside that hellhole. But I wasn’t that person anymore. I’ve killed people, I got into huge fights and problems and I didn’t think I was better than anyone, it was exactly the contrary.

“Do you think she’s hungry?” Zulema, who was holding her, asks with a look of concern on her face.

“Maybe, I think so. Here, let me try.” I reach to Sole, holding her in arms as I sit down in the couch. I start breastfeeding her, and the baby calms down, closing her eyes. Still holding her, I slowly let my head sink into the couch. I was happy, but tired. I barely got any sleep at the hospital, and I was starting to feel those lost hours. After a couple of minutes, the baby stops eating, and I feel myself falling asleep, finally.

I wake up couple of hours later, and I can’t help but to feel desperate once I realize that Sole is not in my arms anymore. I look around the room and she’s nowhere to be found, neither is Zulema. 

Suddenly, I start listening to Zulema’s voice. She’s singing, and she’s singing a song that’s already well known to me. I lean closer to the door of the baby’s room, in order to listen better.

Yalla Tnam, Yafki Albaka.  
Yalla Yalla, Habibi. Yalla Yalla Tnam.

Without even realizing it, my eyes are closed, as I’m enjoying her voice. I always knew Zulema was an amazing singer, but this time she seemed even better. Maybe because there was passion and happiness in her voice. Maybe because, for the first time, she wasn’t singing to her grief, but to this baby, that represented hope, a ray of sunshine in our lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Also, thank you so much to everyone who wished me luck on my exam, I took it yesterday and I think it went really well.
> 
> All the love xx
> 
> my twitter: @chaionearth


	16. Let’s get this over with quickly

Zulema’s Pov

It’s been now 5 days since Sole was born. Things are going quite well actually, we’ve been getting enough sleep, only having to wake up two or three times during the night, which is not that bad. 

During these days, my biggest fear has been slowly disappearing. Deep down, I expected that I wouldn’t be able to bond with the baby, and that would automatically push me away from Maca. I’ve been projecting my guilt with the way I dealt with Fatima into Sole, even though that didn’t make any sense. In fact, I was good with the baby. She didn’t cry too much, which it’s something I highly appreciate, but whenever she did cry, I liked to sing to her, and that calmed her down. 

I didn’t like to admit it to Maca, but I was absolutely in love with that child. I was obsessed with her tiny little hands, the way she frowned her face, with her baby smell. I didn’t deserve to be holding something so precious, yet I was willing to do everything I could to be worthy of this privilege; for Maca and for Sole.

Nevertheless, I was completely aware of how hard it would be for me to overcome certain traumas. I couldn't help but to see Fatima when she was a baby in my new daughter, bringing over and over again the memory of when she was taken from me.

Flashback on

I could feel the sweat running in my face as I heard the nurses saying “Push harder! Push harder!” repeatedly. The pain was almost unbearable, but at the same time I felt like my whole body was completely numb. I felt my mother’s gaze, who was sitting across the room, upon me. And that same gaze, instead of encouraging me to keep pushing, told me to not dare to give birth to that baby. 

Shaking those thoughts, I give a big and final push. I start listening to the baby crying.

“Give her to me, please.” I say to the nurse with a weak voice. My arms are trembling, but I just needed to hold her. The nurse hands her to me with hesitation. Looking at her, I feel my lungs running out of air. She is breathtaking. Small, almost no hair, rosy cheeks and a nose similar to mine. I softly run my finger in her face, just to make sure she was real. She stops crying in a matter of minutes, allowing me to only hear her low breathing. I hold her tightly in my arms. 

“Hi there, Lana.”

“I think that’s enough Zulema.”

“What do you mean?” I ask scared, because deep down I knew exactly what she meant. Facing me, she walks towards the door, opening it and putting her head out to talk to someone in the hallway.

“You can come in now. Let’s get this over with quickly.”

“What? Mother, what are you doing?” Again, I don’t receive an answer. I fix my position in the bed, sitting down and holding Lana even tighter. She wouldn’t leave my sight. I couldn't’ bare such a thing.

As I finish my sentence, two men enter the room. One of them, dressed according to our culture, was a big man, with a beard and a mischievous look on his eyes. I shrugg at that sight. With fear, I turn to face the man next to him. This on was tall but slim, and had a doctor gown dressed. 

It didn’t take me too long to understand what was about to happen. I consider my opinions: we were on the highest floor of the building, so there was no way I would be able to jump, especially with a baby in my arms. The man dressed as a doctor had locked the door when he got in, and saved the key in the gown’s pocket, so that idea was also impossible. In conclusion, I was fucked. My only two exits were completely out of my reach, and I couldn’t put on a fighting holding a baby. 

“Mother, please don’t do this. I’ll do everything you want, just don’t take her from me.” I beg her, feeling the tears running down my cheeks.

“You’ll both thank me in the future. I can promise you that.”

“You can’t take her away from me, I won’t allow it.” I say, trying to show strength on my voice, even though I was terrified.

“That’s what we’ll see.” She faces the stronger man, and without even and exchange of words, he comes near me, in order to hold the baby.

“No! Get away from me!” I start screaming desperately. Because I was so concerned with the man trying to reach for Lana, I don’t even notice the doctor, injecting a substance in my arm that makes me slowly fall asleep. 

I try to fight against my own body in order to stay awake, but it’s something I couldn’t control. As my eyes start to close, I feel my arms losing the weight of where Lana was laying on.

“Please, no.” I mumble, feeling the tears coming down once again. I fall into a deep sleep.

Flashback off

I wave of sadness and melancholia goes through my body. Fortunately, I turn to face Sole, who was peacefully sleeping in her crib, and I feel a little better. Whenever I’m sad I like to come to her room and just watch her for a bit. It felt comforting to watch someone so pure, who had absolutely no knowledge of the evilness of this world. I only wish I could be like that, but I didn’t have an opportunity to be like that not even as a child, due to the circumstances of course. I wonder if Lana was like that as well. Probably not.

As I’m leaning forward in the crib to have a better look of Sole, I feel a pair of arms holding me from behind. I initially jump at the touch, my instinct of survival still manages to be the strongest some times. 

My body relaxes as Maca’s scent invades my nostrils. I turn around to face the blonde, immediately joining our lips, running my hands through her back and going down. It was already dark outside, and we didn’t turn on the light in order to not wake up the baby, yet I could still see how shinny her eyes were.

Suddenly, Maca takes a step away from me, and opens the red silk robe she was wearing. Once she opens the robe, I realize she’s wearing a black lace lingerie, which the top part heavily emphasized her breasts. I feel my body getting hotter.

“I thought that… you know… since the baby is sleeping you and I could spend some quality time together. What do you think?” She says with a malicious smile on her face.

“I would like that very much.” I say as we hold hands and quickly walk to our bedroom, maintaining the door of the baby’s room open in case she woke up. 

_

Maca’s Pov

Once we enter in our bedroom, I’m immediately pushed into the bed, feeling Zulema’s weight on top of me. She quickly takes of her pants and her shirt, leaving only her underwear on. She remains seated in one of my legs, and I can feel how wet and hot her sex is, making a me feel a burning desire. I crash our mouths together, and I feel her tongue invading my mouth, as well as one of her hands removing the straps of my lingerie of my shoulders, to then slowly caress one of my nipples. 

Still seated on my leg, the brunette starts making wave movements with her body to obtain more contact with my leg, making her release soft moans against my lips. I get up and sit on the bed, keeping the woman on my lap, and remove her bra, breaking the kiss and putting one of her nipples in my mouth, making her moans louder. Trying to not wake up the baby, she places her mouth in my shoulder, bitting it gently. 

She then comes down on my lap, and gets on her knees, after removing her underwear. I imitate her moves, as I remove the last peace of clothes in my body, and kneel in front of her. She gets near me and deposits and passionate a quite desperate kiss on my lips. My body trembles at the feel of her nipples lightly touching mine. 

Then, one of her hands starts running through my body until it reaches my belly, where she slows her movements, before getting to between my thighs. Without hesitation, her fingers immediately reach my clitoris, making me let out a loud moan. Her long fingers make quick and agile movements, and I start to feel my legs trembling. Nevertheless, I proceed to do the same to her, causing her the same reaction. 

We start moving our bodies in a synchronized rhythm, trying to have as much contact as we possibly could with each other’s fingers. I bury my face in Zulema neck, and she goes again to my shoulder, sucking it, which would surely leave a mark.

As we reach our orgasm at pretty much the same time, we fall against the mattress, leaving Zulema on top of me. As my body slowly relaxes, I feel the brunette’s mouth on my stomach, tracing down a path with wet kisses. When she lands on my sex, she turns to one of my thighs, kissing its interior, making me moan in frustration.

“Zulema… just do it please.” She looks at me with a grin and lust on her eyes, and then she finally introduces her tongue inside of me. A wave of excitement hits me hard. She softly sucks on my clittoris, carving her nails in one of my thighs. I reach for her hair, pushing it hard, as an attempt to get her face even closer moving my hips up and down at the same time. 

Once I reach the peak of my pleasure, I pull Zulema towards me, starting a desperate kiss, but at the same time trying to calm my body. 

“I love you so much.” I say with desperation between kisses, keeping eye contact with the woman on top of me.

“The feeling is very mutual rubia.” She says before she kisses me again, sucking my bottom lip gently.

Zulema’s Pov

We stay like that for a bit of time, switching between a small conversation or a long kiss, until Maca falls asleep. I put on the sheet of our bed on top of the woman’s naked body, and then get up, with some difficulty, and throw on the robe she was previously wearing and go to Sole’s room, to check in if everything’s okay.

I go in to find the baby still peacefully sleeping, with an identical expression as the one Maca has when she sleeps. I smile at that sight, and go back to my room, feeling a certain peace inside my heart and mind.

Everything was okay.


	17. She was glowing in an almost heavenly way

Maca’s Pov

A few months have gone by. 

I woke up feeling the warmth of the sun on top of my naked skin, since the blankets were spread across the bedroom floor. I face the brunette woman sleeping in front of me. A lock of hair had fallen gracefully on top of her forehead, her mouth was slightly open, and her breathing was considerably strong. My eyes start to go down to admire her body, that was also completely uncovered. She was glowing in an almost heavenly way, which, adding to her beauty, made her look like an actual painting. After some consideration, I decide to fetch the polaroid camera she gave me a few years ago for Christmas, and take a picture of her. She just looked too pretty and I wanted to save that image.

Maybe feeling the weight of my stare or hearing the click of the camera, she finally opens her eyes, giving me a lazy smile.

“What?” She says, still smiling.

“You just look really beautiful.”

“Are you aware that I just woke up, right?”

She places her long fingers between a few locks of hair trying to fix it and then comes near me, putting the same hand on my neck.

“Yes, and you manage to look even more beautiful.” Once I say that, she joins are lips together, pulling my hair slightly. As my mouth meets her neck and inhale her strong scent, our atmosphere gets broken with the sound of the baby crying. 

Sole was now 4 months old, and more precious than ever. Her sleeping and eating schedule was getting more consistent by the day, but that didn’t stop her from throwing her occasional tantrums. To my surprise, Zulema deals with those situations even better than me; they were getting along incredibly well and that made me not only relieved but also happy.

“That’s okay I’ll go.” Zulema gets up and grabs one of my squared shirts and throws it on. A few minutes later the crying stops, and the woman returns with the baby on her arms. Sole is peacefully resting on Zule’s arms, and as her mother walks in the door she lazily turns her head to face me.

Zulema faces the baby and gives her a soft smile, before turning her attention to me and sitting right next to me in our bed with Sole on her lap. I fix my position to be on the same level as them and carefully place a hand on Sole’s leg, which she responds with a smile. Zulema then lays down on her side, wrapping a hand around Sole, who is sitting in front of her playing with one of her toys. 

We spend the rest of the morning like that:having small conversations mixed with moments of plain staring at Sole, and without even saying it we both knew that we felt so blessed to have her in our lives. It was comforting to see that after so many years of bad blood between us, that only brought us pain, we finally had something good that represented that connection we’ve established, that bonded us and that showed our ability to overcome our demons.

Seeing the way Zulema was looking at Sole truly warmed my heart and in that morning I finally felt that my life was complete and I could almost laugh at the irony. The woman that manage to make my life a living hell years ago gave it sense today. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about how much I miss my parents, or how hurt I still feel with the loss of contact between my brother and I and the fact that I never got to meet my niece, but just by looking at Zulema and our daughter it felt like all of those problems turn into a cloud that starts moving far far away, until I can’t see it anymore. 

I was completely surrendered to that woman: to her sarcastic comments and the way she still struggles to show affection, yet she doesn’t even realize that she’s amazing at it; to her singing voice and her cooking skills; to the face she makes when she’s sleeping and the one she makes when she’s orgasming, as well as the one she makes when we’re watching a sad movie, but she wants to come off as tough, but you can clearly see that she’s touched by the story; to the way she pretended to hate gardening, yet she was always the one convincing me for us to do it, under the excuse that she knew that “i have been wanting to do it”; to the way she always covered me with a blanket whenever I fall asleep in the couch; and to the way she is with Sole, managing to show the best parts she possesses and allowing herself to give all the love she has in her soul for that child.

With all of those thoughts in my mind I lean forward and connect our lips, and then place a kiss on top of Sole’s head. The brunette repeats my movements, making the baby release a loud laugh, and then grab hard a lock of Zulema’s hair, pulling it, which makes the woman laugh.

“Well I didn’t make her but she definitely has my strength.” She says, still laughing.

“I can totally agree with that.” 

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. We freeze without having a clue what to do. We weren’t expecting anyone and even though Castillo let us go there was still a chance that they’d come after us, but we couldn’t allow that, because, for the first time, we both had something to lose. 

After some consideration, Zulema places Sole in my arms and gets out of the bed.

“You two stay there, I’ll go see who it is.”

“No way.” I say, also getting up. “We’ll both go. If it is really the police they won’t start shooting if one of us has a baby on her arms.” She weights my words and recognizes that I’m right.

Hearing our hearts beat faster, we slowly walk to the living room’s door. After facing each other as well as Sole, Zulema carefully opens the door.

We’re face to face with a smiley Saray, joined by her wife and her daughter. We sigh in relief.

_

Zulema’s Pov

“What’s up bitches?” She says walking towards us.

“I could actually kill you right now Saray. We thought it was the police.”

“Relax Zule, just our guardian angel.” She says with a smile on her face, that only grows bigger once she sees Sole on Maca’s arms. “Oh my god, she’s perfect.”

“You can hold her if you want.” Maca says, placing Sole on the gitana’s arms.

Holding Sole on her arms, she gently places a finger on her touch and then caresses her cheeks. 

“Oh, I almost forgot. Maca and Zule, meet Mariza and Estrella.”

The two women come near me and my girlfriend and we exchange hugs and kisses. Mariza was as beautiful as Saray always said. She’s a tall brunette with long hair and shiny brown eyes and full lips. She had a lovely smile on her face, and she had a style of clothes similar to Saray’s. Estrella, slightly smaller than Mariza, was also really pretty. She has slightly curled light brown hair, green eyes and thin lips, and she had a smile on her face as well. I was relieved to see that the girl didn’t look a bit like Sandoval, and the three of them definitely formed a beautiful family.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet the woman Saray talks so fondly about.” Mariza says as we break the hug. It still feels weird to hug people, because it’s something I haven’t done for years. I quickly try to shake that thought off.

“I should say the same thing. About the both of you.” I say the same thing, holding on to Maca’s waist.

“What a beautiful woman have you become Estrella. When we last saw you you were still a baby.” Maca says facing the girl, which she responds with a shy smile, saying “I’m glad I meet you two again, my mom is always talking about you and your crazy adventures in prison.”

“Saray I’ll never understand how you talk about our times in prison like they were some kind of adventure park.” Maca says with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. Those two will never get totally along, I just had to make my peaces with that.

“Well it’s the only way to overcome bad experiences blondie, I highly recommend it.” Maca rolls her eyes.

“So, how’s the parenting life treating you two?” Mariza says, probably as a way to avoid a fight between our partners. 

“Pretty well actually, she’s a great baby, she behaves really well.” I say, getting closer to Saray to look at my daughter, who was falling asleep once again.

“Yeah we’ve been actually getting proper nights of sleep, which is surprising.”

“She’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Mom, let me hold her for a bit.” Estrella tells Saray, holding Sole carefully. 

Saray, Estrella and Mariza decide to stay over for a couple of days, since the trip to our house is really long and tiring, and also because we have a lot to catch up.


	18. Enjoy the night

Maca’s Pov

We spent the entire day just chatting with Saray, Estrella and Mariza about everything and nothing at all. It was nice to finally see the house full, because even though I loved being with Sole and Zulema, we were never really used to be so much time all by ourselves, without any other human interactions.

“I’ll never wrap my head around the fact that you tried to kill each other several times in jail, and now here you two are, living in a cottage and raising a baby. How did that happen?” Mariza asked. I know that Saray explained our relationship to her, but I couldn’t blame her for still being confused about it.

“Oh, that’s a long and really tricky story to be honest. Back in prison there was a time where we actually hated in each other, we felt so much hatred that we were willing to dedicate most of our time to think about ways of torture the other and make her life a living hell. I think we simply used that anger as a fuel and later turned it into something good. Love.” As I finish talking, I feel Zulema’s hand gently caressing my thigh and then she proceeds to kiss my cheek. She now starts talking.

“The thing is, as much as we hated each other back then, we always felt this unbearable need to be close to the other, whether it’s for good or evil. It’s such a strong connection and we were never able to explain it properly. It’s just like what Altagracia once said, “our destinies are intertwined and everything that happens to one happens to the other.” I think quoting that it’s the best way to explain our relationship.” She says with a smile, and almost teary eyes.

It felt a bit weird to hear her finally talk about Altagracia. I had a lot of questions about that woman, but I didn’t know if Zulema was willing to give me the answers. The only thing she ever told me was that, during the time that I was in a coma, Altagracia was the only person she felt like she could trust, and felt a connection with her. After betraying Saray, she didn’t see an escape to Cruz del Norte, until she made a pact with the former prison guard. Things got complicated for both of them once Hierro and Sandoval started to understand the plans they had on their sleeves.

“Wow, that’s actually beautiful.You two make such a cute couple” Estrella says in awe. 

“Oh thank you, I have to agree with that.” I say, holding Zulema’s arm.

“Okay, now let’s get to the real talk, if I’m allowed.” Saray starts talking as she quickly stands up. I was afraid of where that conversation would go. The woman proceeds talking.

“Before we got here, we were searching about things we could do in here, because even though it’s a lovely place, when I was here before I got the impression that there’s not much to do. Turns out I was completely wrong. We found out that in the center of the town they throw these huge open parties every sunday for everyone to go.”

“That actually sounds nice.” I say with interest.

“It really does. And we were thinking that since today is sunday the four of us could go and have some fun. And because Estrella is not eighteen yet she would stay here with Sole and take care of her. She’s really good with babies.” Mariza says.

I feel the anxiety crippling inside me. Was I ready to leave Sole for the first time? I really wasn’t sure. Throughout these past few years we always had to watch our back every single second, in case the police would get closer. We screwed up with the law so much that every erroneous step would get us in the trouble. They had lost their patience with us, apart from Castillo, so who knew what they could do if they found us. Besides, we still have Ramala’s diamonds so what guarantee did we have that his men aren’t desperately looking for the both of us. Was I willing to leave our baby with a teenager?

“I’m sorry but I don’t think I’m ready to leave Sole.” I say with an impulse, feeling Zulema’s stare on me. I thought she would disagree with me and try to convince me to go, but instead she didn’t say a word. 

“Come on Maca! You two have been stuck here for months and knowing you like I do I know you’re starting to get bored and craving some fun. It’s just a couple of hours.” Saray sits next to me.

“She’s right Maca, a couple of hours won’t kill us. Besides, a bit of fun would do us well. I’m craving a strong drink.” Zule says as she places her arm around my waist as a way to comfort me, almost to say “I know what you’re feeling, because I’m feeling it too, but everything will go well.”

I take some time to considerate, even though I knew they had a point.

“Fine, let’s go. It should be fun.”

_

Zulema’s Pov

After a couple of hours, we finally head to the party. The event is right in the center of Normandy, and once we arrive it’s already packed. Inside the tent where the party is taking place, we see people of every age and style. A big portion of people already seemed drunk enough, and we could hear an extreme upbeat song played by the dj, an attractive and dark skinned man. 

My nostrils are immediately invaded by the strong scent of weed, making me slightly dizzy, I was never used to that smell. The party was wilder than what I was expecting, but I guess that’s what Maca and I were needing, a bit of craziness to mix with the calmness of our current life. Suddenly I feel Saray getting a grip of my arm as well as Maca’s, pushing me towards the drinks.

“Now it’s the time for you two to just relax and enjoy the night. Hey.” She gets the bartender’s attention. “Can we get some vodka for the three of us?”

“We’re starting with vodka?” Maca asks with surprise. 

“Of course. That way you two will be looser and more open to enjoy the rest of the night.” Mariza says handing Maca her drink. “Now drink.”

I do as she says, feeling my throat burning almost immediately. Unlike Maca, I’ve always super resistant to any drink, but since I haven’t been drinking since the baby was born, in order to be more capable to take care of her, I can’t really hold my drink like I used to.

The three other women drink as well, and our mood increases quickly. I was really needing to have some fun, to feel a bit more free. The lights and sounds around me start to invade me, and I feel like my whole being disintegrating in small particles, making me feel lighter. 

_

After a couple of hours, and a few more drinks, all of our worries and concerns were definitely forgotten at the moment. I was a bit out of myself, and at this point everything seemed a reason to laugh. I felt really good. We were sitting in a small table in the corner, just talking and drinking, and I notice that Maca was slowly swinging side to side. 

“Do you want to dance with me?”

“Really? You want to?” She asks with astonishment. 

“Yeah, I usually don’t like to dance in public but I’m willing to do that for you.” I say as I hold her hand.

“Let’s do this then.” She says and we immediately get up, leaving Mariza and Saray on the table, still drinking.

There are a reasonable amount of people on the dance floor, with a slow song playing on the background. We both start to move in sync with the song, swinging our hips side to side. Maca turns around, making me face her back, as she joins our bodies and my lips meet the nape of her neck, and i feel her body shiver. I hold on tightly to her waist and all of the sudden it feels like we’re the only people in this room. She then turns around, leaving us face to face and I immediately join our lips, and she gladly receives this action. Her tongue invades my mouth and I feel one of her hands getting a grip of my hair, and pulling it lightly. I feel the lust invading my veins.

“Do you wanna, you know, go to the bathroom?”

Without saying anything, she pulls my arm, and we make our way towards the bathroom.

_

Maca’s Pov

Once we find an open cabin, we enter it quickly and Zulema immediately starts kissing me again, pressing my body against the cold marble wall. Her hands invade the skin inside my shirt, sending me shivers in my entire body. She then takes it off, along with her own and also my bra. Her mouth goes directly into one of my nipples, sucking it hardly, making me lean my head towards the wall. She begins tracing wet kisses down my body, until she reaches my skirt and takes it off.

“No underwear uh?” She says with a devilish smile.

“You’re more predictable than you think.” 

She gets down on her knees and places one of my legs in her shoulder, making my legs wide open and my sex exposed. I lose all my senses once I feel her tongue in my wet area. Struggling, I look down to stare at her, to see that she has her eyes closed, and her nails digging my thighs, making me feel a strong but pleasant pain. 

As my moans get louder, we hear the door opening and a few women talking and laughing inside the bathroom.

“Shhhh. You have to be quiet now.” She says. I can’t even give a proper answer because she immediately starts to suck my clit strongly using her tongue, and never breaking eye contact. I struggle to control my moans, so she uses her free hand and puts it in my mouth, and i suck her fingers gently. As I orgasm she faces me for a few seconds before getting up and winking at me with a smile. 

Thinking that we were done, her long fingers go once again under my skirt, and I feel them in my entrance. She introduces two fingers and I immediately feel like my whole body is gonna crumble.

Noticing that, she holds me and wraps my legs around her waist, and connects our bodies even closer against that wall.

I start moving my hips against her fingers, feeling once again that I’m close to climax.

“Keep looking at me while you do that.” I do what she says, and we both fasten our moves, until I reach my second orgasm.

After we try to arrange ourselves, we go back to our table, pretending like nothing happened.

“Maca, you better fix the buttons on your shirt.” Saray says with a smile, and then continues to sip her drink.


	19. Zulema, I’m sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: violence, attempts of sexual assault.

Zulema’s Pov

The party goes on a few more hours. We get in touch with Estrella to know how Sole is doing, and she says that she’s been calm, and sleeping during most of the time, which lifts a huge weight of my shoulder.

As the night goes on, I start to feel a bit sick so I decide to drink for the rest of the party. Maca on the other side, is extremely drunk and jolly, dancing alone while I decide to sit down for a few moments, to rest for a bit. Mariza and Saray were dancing for a bit too but they’re back on the table too.

“You’re having fun now?” Saray, sitting in front of me in the table, asks.

“I was having fun before already, I just feel a bit sick, plus my jaw hurts and I don’t know why.”

Saray and Mariza start laughing for a few moments, making me confused.

“Well maybe if you hadn’t fucked the blondie on the bathroom that wouldn’t happen.”

“Shut up gitana.” I say annoyed and decide to close my eyes and lay my head back for a bit. However, something deep inside of me tells me to open my eyes and look for the blondie among the crowd.

I find her still dancing, alone, in a messy but still sexy way. She obviously isn’t paying any attention to her surroundings, and neither was I. However a man sitting on a couch next to Maca along with his friends caught my attention. He was considerably tall, short dark hair and a shaved beard, and looked very very drunk. He kept looking at Maca and then whispering something to his friends making them laugh. I start to feel my blood boil, and before I could process anything, he gets up and and walks towards my girlfriend, whispering something to her ear. The man was probably spanish too, because Maca definitely understood what he said, and answered him afterwards. Since this was mainly a touristic city, that didn’t surprise me one bit. 

Without even thinking, I make my way towards her, and pull her arm to get her closer to me.

“What are you two talking about?” I ask, not even trying to cover my jealousy. “You know what, I don’t even care.” I face the man standing next to her, with a mischievous smile on his face. “Look, idiot. This lady already has company, so I suggest you to just take a walk a go back to your stupid friends.”

“Who the hell you think you are to talk to me like that you bitch?”

As an instinct I lift my fist up but before it colides in the man’s face, Maca pushes me away.

“Stop you two.” Maca says with an angry expression on her face. “You” She faces the men. “No, I don’t wanna dance with you and I’m not single, and even if I was I wouldn’t even dare to touch you.” I smile victorious. “But you” She looks at me this time. “I don’t need you to defend me, I’m not a child, if I don’t want something I simply say it myself. There’s no need for you to always jump in my defense.”

I open my mouth in awe.

“Are you fucking serious right now? You didn’t even notice that he wasn’t staring at you with his friends. He could have caught you off guard and then God knows what he could have done.”

“I’m right here you know?” The man says.

“And do you honestly think I care?” I say as I look at him.

“Why do you always need to do this Zulema? You did the same thing with our doctor and that man in the supermarket and he was literally only asking if I needed any help!” She starts screaming.

“First of all, you don’t even know what the doctor said, so there’s no need to be mad about it.”

“Well, maybe you should tell and I could take my own conclusions for once.”

“But you don’t need to know it, he was just being homophobic and that’s something I definitely won’t tolerate. He thought it was disgusting for two women to raise the baby.” I say looking down. I wish I could just smash that man’s head.

“You should have told me that when I asked you for the first time. But that still doesn’t give you the right to meddle in my conversations every time you think a man is flirting to me. It’s not like I’m gonna have sex with them, you know me better than that.”

“Can I go now? This suddenly got very boring.” The man says, making his distance between us.

“I’m going to. I’m done with this party.” I decide to walk away, before the blonde woman starts talking again.

“Can you please stop being such a baby and work things out like a proper adult? For God’s sake Zulema.”

“And who do you think you are to talk to me like that? The fact that we have a baby and we’re living together doesn't give you the right to mistreat me like that.”

“Oh but you can right? Because people always have to look out for your “bad temper” but then you can handle other people’s. Typical”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I get closer to me. Then, we feel Saray and Mariza’s presence.

“Okay girls, you really shouldn’t be fighting right now. This was supposed to be a relaxed and happy night.”

“Well maybe you should tell her friend to stop being so possessive.” She says pointing at me. Suddenly I feel my boil burning, and it’s like we’re back at Cruz del Sur all again.

“And maybe you should stop being a spoiled brat and accept the help that’s given to you.”

“What? Do you think that because we’re in a relationship you can suddenly tell me what to do? Oh of course, you kill my baby but now that you’re helping me with this one it’s all fine right? Well it’s not.” She starts walking until I lose sight of her.

I feel hot tears running down my face. Why would she say something like that? This was only a stupid argument, and we had a lot of those, but I hadn’t heard such strong words coming from her mouth in a long time. I had been shot before, stabbed, burned, drowned, but somehow that hurted a lot more.

“Zule, are you okay?” Saray asks with concern. Mariza and her get closer to me, as an attempt to comfort me.

“Just leave me the fuck alone.” I say, making my way towards the door.

Maca’s Pov

I felt my heart beating faster and faster with anger, but also regret. I was mad at Zulema, for thinking that I belonged to her, that I was some kind of object. But I was more mad at me for saying those words, specially because it was a lie. I didn’t hold grudges against her, not anymore. These past few years living with her, have been the best years of my entire life, I’ve never felt happier or more loved and I don’t think I could ever thank her enough for that.

At this moment, I could only feel disgust towards myself. I knew how guilty Zulema felt for what happened and how hard she has been trying to make up for that. If she wants to breakup with me, I would understand, I deserved that.

I was sitting on the back of the building where the party took place, on the sidewalk. I thought I was alone, until I heard light but steady footsteps, sounding like they were coming in my direction. 

“I’m glad we’re alone again.”

It was the man that argued with before. This time, it looked like he held a darker, heavier aura, making me shiver. I start doubting what I thought about him, and believing what Zulema said. Now, it felt like my heart was about to burst open.

“Look, I told you before that I really don’t wanna talk to you, especially now. Please, just leave me alone.”

“A woman as beautiful as you really shouldn’t be in a place like this all by herself.” He says grabbing my arm and lifting me up. He gets his face closer to mine, making me feel his strong breath on my face. I felt like I was about to faint and throw up at the same time.

“Let go of my fucking arm you disgusting piece of shit."

“Hey calm down. Why can’t we just have a little bit of fun uh? Especially now that your dyke girlfriend isn’t here to bother us.” He brushes his fingers in my face, until he reaches my lips, trying to put them inside my mouth, and once he does it I bite them with all my strengths. He moans in pain, and once I caught him off guard I punch his face, making him dizzy for a few seconds.

“You bitch! Now I’m gonna teach you a little lesson.” Without giving me any time to react, he throws my body against the front part of the car that was near the sidewalk. My face hits the car and like that wasn’t enough he grabs my hair and hits my face against the hard material once again and I immediately feel my senses getting weaker, as well as my lessons. Feeling like I’m about to faint, I feel his hand below my shirt, squeezing one of my breasts and licking my neck.

As I hear the man unbuckle his pants, I listen to a sound that remind me a lot of a gun.

I try to look behind, and once I do I see Zulema, with a weapon on her hands. She shoots it to the sky before pointing it at the man.

“Let go of Maca you hijo de puta.” She has an almost deathly expression on her eyes. I was afraid she would shoot him, but at the same time I wish she would do that.

The man hesitated for a bit before letting go of me. He slowly tries to walk away, but it doesn’t take too long for Zulema to hit him in the head with the gun multiple times, and once the man is on the floor, she kicks him between his legs, until the man is crying and shrinking from the pain. She also kicks him in the face, and he starts to bleed a lot, until we can barely see his eyes, face, or nose. He passes out at last.

“Let’s go, we have to get out of here.” She hands me out the car keys. “Get in the car and lock yourself inside it while I go get Saray and Mariza okay?” I nod.

“Zulema, I’m sorry.” She looks at me and smiles, but her eyes bear sadness.

“It’s okay, we’ll talk about this later.” 

She runs towards the door, and I enter the car, trying to process everything. At this moment I just hated myself and wished nothing more but to just disappear.


	20. We both feel each other smiling between kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short but (hopefully) sweet chapter.  
> Enjoy!

Zulema’s Pov

The drive home is awkward, probably because everyone in the car felt weird, no one said a thing. Mariza was the one driving and Saray was sitting in the passenger's seat, so Maca and I sat in the back together. Even though we weren’t talking, every now and then I looked at her discreetly, to check on her.

Every time I did such thing, she was always looking forward, yet her eyes felt empty, no expression at all.

I still felt hurt with the words she said to me before, but I was willing to let go of that for now, because of what she went through tonight. It took a lot of effort and self-control from me to not kill that bastard. I almost did it, but then I remembered Sole, and I’m not going to lose another daughter. That, I can promise.

I felt devastated. I looked back at everything we built these past years together and notice that it was all slowly crumbling on top of us, and there was nothing we could do about that.

It took so much strength and patience to built this relationship and I didn’t want to throw it all away because of one argument, that just didn’t make any sense.

I love her, like I never loved anybody else and never know what to do with all this love I feel for her. I don’t know where to put it, put one thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to put it in the trash.

Once we arrive to the cottage, Maca, instead of going inside and get some sleep, like I expected her to do, she makes her way towards the swing, and sits down in it. I face her, before turning my attention to Saray and Mariza. 

“I’m gonna stay there with her for a bit. Can you two check on Sole, please?”

“Of course Zule. Don’t worry.” Saray says, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Please be soft on her, I know that you’re mad but she went through a lot today.” Mariza advices me. I simply smile as an answer, because I really don’t like when people meddle in my own life, I think I’m capable of taking care of my own girlfriend.

They start making their way towards the front door as I make mine to the swing where the blonde is seated. She’s slowly swinging it front to back, resting her head in one of the cords. 

“Move.” She slides to the side and I sit next to her. “How are you doing?” I ask, getting my face closer to her to capture her expression.

Her eyes kept staring down to the floor and they still seemed empty, with some sprinkles of sadness.

“I’m okay I guess.” She stares at me this time. Tears start running down her face. “I’m so sorry for the things I said to you. I didn’t mean to say any of it. That’s not how I feel. Not anymore. I hope you know that.” 

Hearing her words I felt a bit of relief, because for some time I wasn’t sure of how she actually felt towards me and the things I had done in the past.

“Thank you, I actually really needed to hear that. But I wouldn’t blame you if you were still mad at me. I think I deserve it.

“Stop.” She cups my cheeks. “You have to stop saying that. I just said it because I was angry and I can be an idiot sometimes. I’ve already told you, we both did bad things to each other.”

“I really want to believe you but somehow I always end up thinking that I’m the one that messes up everything.” I look at the knuckles of my fingers, they were white and I didn’t realize that I was squeezing my hands so hard.

“That’s because during your entire life people made you think you were the villain of the story, when you were actually the victim.” She sighs and puts her hand on my shoulder.

“You’re making me look weaker by saying that.” I giggle, even though I really meant it.

“You’re not. You’re the strongest person I know.” She smiles and joins our lips. I feel a rush of sudden joy going through my body, making me confident enough to say my next words.

“Marry me.” I say quickly, and wait nervously for her answer. When she still doesn't say anything I decide to say something else.

“We don’t have to put our signatures into a piece of paper, we don’t need that. I’m just saying we should make a small party, especially because we don’t have many friends, and I would buy the rings. I just want something to officialize our relationship. I’ll understand if you don’t want it, but if you do say yes I’ll make you a proper proposal and I’ll buy you the most beautiful wedding ring you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”

At first, she looks at me with a shocked expression on her face, making my anxiety increase. But then, she breaks into a big smile along with tears on her face. Suddenly she jumps into my arms and holds me tightly. When she breaks the hug she faces me.

“Yes. Of course I want to marry you. I love you so much.” She kisses me again, this time a longer and more passionate kiss and we both feel each other smiling between kisses.

“I love you too. You make me so happy, and I never actually thought I could be happy.”

Maca’s Pov

After we stay a bit longer outside, we decide to finally go back to the house to tell the girls the good news. I couldn’t even believe it myself, but I couldn’t be happier.

When we get to the living room, we see the three women in the couch and watching a movie that I didn’t recognize. Mariza had her head on Saray’s shoulder, while she had her arm around the woman’s waist. Estrella was laying down, with her head on Mariza’s lap. They definitely made a beautiful family.

Once they see us they all turn their attention to Zulema and I.

“How’s Sole?” Zulema asks.

“She’s fine, she’s sleeping. We gave her a bit of Maca’s milk you left in the fridge and she fell asleep immediately afterwards.” Mariza says with a smile.

“And did you two work things out?” Saray asks hopeful. 

“Oh we definitely did.” I say with a smile, facing Zulema before I continue talking. “We’re getting married.”

Their reaction is similar to my own. At first, they look really shocked but once it all sinks in they start screaming and jumping in our arms. Their screams, as one would expect, wake the baby.

“I’ll go get her.” Estrella says making her way to Sole’s room.

“I can’t even describe how happy I am for you two.” Mariza says with a big smile on her face.

Saray then proceeds to hug Zulema tightly, with teary eyes and a sweet smile on her face.

“You deserve this Zule, I’m so happy for you.” She says quietly.

“Thank you sister. I hope to see you three at the wedding.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

We spent the rest of the night drinking and celebrating for the amazing news.

I would be lying if I said that I never thought of us getting married, but for me that was never anything more than a fantasy, because I never thought it could actually happen. I was convinced Zulema didn’t want that kind of things, but like she said, we don’t need a paper from the town house to prove anything, it will be more than enough to see us switch wedding rings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my twitter: @chaionearth


	21. Do you wanna join me?

Zulema’s Pov

We spend a considerable amount of time in the living room celebrating our engagement. It’s all filled with laughter and yet again stories about how much we fought and argued in Cruz del Sur.

Even though the person in Cruz del Sur that I was is someone I want to completely erase from my life, it’s quite funny to see how much my relationship with Maca changed.

“Yeah but we all know our stories from Cruz del Sur but what I’m really curious about is Cruz del Norte, and what happened in your lives while I was in that coma.” Maca, already tipsy, says in between laughters. Fair enough, she spent a lot of time in a coma and she definitely missed a lot, but I would try to avoid telling the part where I almost killed Saray and Estrella. Hopefully Saray didn’t tell anything to Mariza.

Discreetly, I look at Saray. We always had a similar bond to the one I have with Maca, and one of the strongest points in those said bonds is that we can communicate with each other in glances and looks. I pray that my face has a scared expression to show that I really didn’t want to tell that unfortunate part of the story and face her. Looking at me, she gives me a genuine smile and nods her head, and I immediately understand what she meant. She was trying to say me that there was no need to worry, that’s all in the past and there’s no need to dig the demons of the past. I sigh relieved.

“Zulema never told you anything about that time?” Saray asks her.

“Not really, I’ve always been curious about that but I never remembered to ask her about it.”

“Well then get ready. She was quite the play during that time. The biggest thing is probably when she ate the explosive eggs, but you probably know about that at least.”

“What? Explosive eggs?” She looks at me in awe, and with a slightly mad expression. “Why would you do something like that?”

“I really like that story, Saray is always telling it to me and Estrella.” Mariza, who was probably the drunkest of all of us, says slapping my shoulder. I glance at her without laughing. I like her, but there’s some limits that really don’t need to be crossed in my opinion.

“I’m glad I can entertain you all.” I continue to stare at Mariza, before turning my attention to Maca. “It’s actually a really long story, that involves chickens, tampons and that idiot Mercedes. All part of my big plan to escape that hellhole. That obviously didn’t work.”

She laughs softly, and I can’t help to admire her a bit. I just loved the way she laughs and how beautiful she looks when she laughs.

“You definitely have to give me some more details on that story another day. If there’s one thing I always admired in you is your perseverance in getting out of that place.” She leans on my shoulder. At this point she is really drunk so I consider getting her to the bedroom to sleep.

“Hey, do you wanna go to our bedroom?” I say quietly. Sighing she puts her head on my lap, leaving a kiss on my inner thigh. I was already quite drunk too, and whenever I drink pretty much everything seems to arouse me, especially when it comes to Maca, so that movement alone makes me feel a bit hotter than before. I try to shake my thoughts and focus in the conversation. 

“That partnership with the frijolita really annoyed me but it was funny to see Sandoval in such agony.” Saray says laughing.

“Yeah it was definitely funny for a while.”

“I bet he’s been treated really nice down there.” Mariza says, making us all laugh.

“Let’s go to our room.”Maca says, still on my lap, but turning her head to me.

“Okay, you definitely need to get some sleep.”

“No. I don’t wanna sleep, I wanna do something else.” She gets up and starts kissing my neck.

“I won’t have sex with you in that state. You need to take a shower. Having sex with drunk people when I’m less drunk seems kinda wrong.” I say getting up of the couch and helping her do the same.

“Fine, but I hate when you’re the responsible one.” Saray and Mariza both laugh.

We slowly make our way to the room, trying to avoid any falls from Maca. I immediately take her to the bathroom and turn on the cold water, and then help her get undressed.

“No please! It’s too cold! Just turn on the hot water.” She says getting away from the water.

“No way, this is the only thing that’ll help you sober up.”

“Ugh okay then.” She slowly gets under the water. She lets out a low scream but after a while she gets used to the cold feeling on her skin, allowing herself to close her eyes as the water runs down her body. 

I allow myself to enjoy the view. I would never get tired of admiring her body, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. 

“Do you like what you’re seeing?” I look back at her face, and now she has her eyes open.

“You know I do.”

She smirks at me. “Do you wanna join me?”  
I look at her reluctant. 

“I promise you that I’m much better now. Totally conscient.” She definitely seems much better than before, so I decide to accept.

I quickly take my clothes off, leaving them on the bathroom floor. As soon as I enter the box the woman pulls me closer to her by my waist, joining our lips immediately. She puts her back against the cold wall and i put one of my hands on the same place, for support. I feel our tongues connecting and afterwards Maca bites by bottom lip. She starts tracing kisses on my neck and sighs start coming out of my mouth, and I don’t even try to control them.

Her mouth finally reaches my breasts and she quickly puts one of my nipples in her mouth, sucking on it gently and licking it occasionally. 

Without any kind of warning, one of her hands goes between my legs. I spread my legs a bit to give her better access and I feel her long fingers touching my clit. She starts making fast and strong circular movements and suddenly that cold water feels very hot to me. I bury my head in my neck and start biting the area. 

“Joder..” I say quitely. Unfortunately, the walls in this house are very thin. Without even looking at her I just know she’s smiling. She just loved seeing me that vulnerable and I didn’t mind showing her that side of me, not anymore.

I finally orgasm and feel a rush of adrenaline and pure lust running down my body. Once I finally catch my breath, I get down on my knees in front of the blonde woman. She puts one of her legs on my back and her hands on my hair, pulling it harshly, as my tongue meets her sex.

I pressure my tongue against her clit and at the same time I introduce two fingers on her entrance, making up and down movements.

The movements of my fingers get faster, the pressure with my tongue stronger, and her moans louder.

_

Maca’s Pov

After we get out of the shower we both realize how exhausted we feel, so we crash in our bed and fall asleep immediately, without even bothering to put some clothes on.

The next morning, as I open my eyes slowly I see Zulema, fully naked, in front of her closet, probably picking something to wear.

“You know, I really wouldn't mind if you just stayed like that.” I say, admiring her up and down, without even trying to disguise it.

“I know you wouldn’t but I’m going out and I think the people on the streets would definitely mind.” I laugh and get up, making my way towards her. Once I get to her I hug her from behind, connecting our bodies once again.

“And where are you going?” I kiss her neck as I wait for an answer.

“Oh I’m just gonna help Saray run some errands for Mariza, it probably won’t take too long. We should be back before lunch.”

“Okay then, we’ll wait for you to eat.”

“Vale.” She finally picks an outfit. All black of course: some skinny jeans and a big sweater with drawings of skulls on it, as a final touch, her usual chunky boots. She looked beautiful, as always.

When Saray and her leave the house, I make my way to the living room, to find Estrella and Mariza in the kitchen’s balcony.

“Good morning!” I say as I enter the room.

“Good morning!” The say in unissin. “How bad is the hangover?” Mariza asks, handing me a cup of coffee.

“Thank you. It’s not that bad actually, Zulema made me take a cold shower yesterday and that really helped.”

“Yeah by all the noise that was coming from the bathroom I bet it really helped.” Estrella says, sipping her tea afterwards.

“Estrella!” Mariza says loudly, hitting the girl on her arm.

“Oh it’s okay really. After so much in prison we completely lost the notion of privacy.” I say with a smile.

“Yeah I bet.”

I drink my coffee as quickly as possible and tell them that I’m gonna check on Sole, since it’s almost time to feed her.

I open the door to her room carefully, avoiding any noise in case the baby is sleeping. But she isn’t, she’s just laying there, with the cutest smile on her face. 

I take her and hold her closely to my chest. I sit on the big chair to breastfeed her.

“Did you know that me and your mother are getting married?” I face her and even though she’s eating I can still see the remains of her beautiful smile. She’s just too precious. “Yes we’re getting married soon, and we’re gonna have a party and everything. Are you happy baby?” I caress her cheek. 

After she’s done, I get up with Sole still on my arms and go back to the living room.

“How’s the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen doing today?” Mariza says, getting closer to us. I put Sole on her arms, Sole loves her and I see that as an opportunity to go eat myself.

_

The hours pass, slowly. As we’re finishing preparing lunch, Zulema and Saray finally come through the door.

“Oh finally! You two took forever.”

“Yeah there were lines for everything. You should know how things work on the weekends blondie.” Saray says, giving me a sarcastic smile and putting her tongue out afterwards.

“How funny.” I turn my attention to Zulema, who is already staring at me with a big smile on her face.

“What?” I ask confused.

“You just look beautiful.” I smile in return, and then join our lips, in a quick, but full of passion kiss.

“Ew. No displays of affection in front of me please. Hearing you two last night was bad enough.” Saray says with a disgusted look on her face, making us all laugh.

“Well, we better eat, I’m starving.” Estrella says, putting the plates on top of the table.

“Oh and I was thinking we could eat on the table we have outside. It’s a beautiful day and we haven’t used it since we bought it.”

“Yeah that actually would be nice. We have to put Sole’s chair outside then, to keep an eye on her.”

“I’ll take care of it. Saray can help me and the rest of you can take the food outside.”

“Wow you and Saray really took the day to bond again uh?” 

“Oh you know how it is princess. I know you’re her best friend now but I think I’m still allowed to spend some time with her, if that’s allowed.” Saray says laughing, giving me a punch on the arm, as a joke.

“Yeah I guess I can allow that.” I agree with her joke.

Lunch goes on smoothly, as one would expect.

“Should we go back inside?” I ask, starting to feel a bit chilly.

“No! Let’s just stay a little longer.” She takes off her sweater, leaving only a black tank top, that made her look incredibly sexy. “Here.” She hands me the sweater. I put it one, feeling immediately warmer and cozier.

“While we’re here, there’s something I want to say, to you Maca.” She stands up and I already know what’s all about. When she said she wanted to make a formal proposal I didn’t take it seriously, specially because the first one was amazing in my opinion. She gets up and takes something below the table, a dark velvet box attached to the back of the table with scotch tape. Old habits really die her.

I turn my attention back to her, feeling my heart racing.

“Macarena, I love you so much. When we first met, I knew nothing but pain and anger. I thought I didn’t deserve happiness and I didn’t feel the need to make others happy, because no one ever did the same to me. But once we got to know each other’s deepest secrets and fears, I learned that it’s okay to be vulnerable, to feel pleasure and ultimately, to be happy. You taught me all that. Our journey was a tricky and bumpy road, but there’s no other road I would’ve chosen instead. There’s so much I wish I could change in our past, but unfortunately I can’t, but I wouldn’t change a thing about these last two years we’ve been living together. In the beginning, I thought that van was the first place it felt like home to me, but then I discover that my home wasn’t the van, it’s you. It’s always been you, and now Sole too. Being with you just feels like some kind of heavenly dream, that I never want to wake up from. I could stare and admire you every day and that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I rediscovered myself with you, learned who I really am and what I want to be in the future.You make me a better person every day, and one day I hope I can be the person you deserve to have by your side. In the meantime, I’m just grateful you gave me a chance to prove you that I can be good. I always said that I didn’t want a normal life, but that was because I didn’t know what a normal life would be like by your side. Now, that’s all I want.  
So, Rubia…” She gets on her knees, and opens the box, revealing a beautiful ring, with a big green emerald attached to it.   
“Will you marry me?” She says with a sweet smile on her face.

I feel my cheeks burning and tears running down my face.

“Of course I will!” I get down on my knees with her a kiss her, hugging her afterwards, inhaling her strong perfume. “I love you so much, you make me the happiest person on this earth.” I whisper in her ear.

As we hug, I hear everyone giving screams of happiness, even Sole.

I’ve never felt happier in my entire life.


	22. The Wedding, pt.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for taking too long to update you guys, but now I'm back and here is the first part (of two parts) of the zurena wedding.  
> Hope you like it!

Author’s pov

It was the day before the wedding. 8:37 pm, to be precise, and pretty much everything was set. Zulema didn’t give Maca much space to do anything, claiming that she wanted to do it all by herself, with the help of Saray, Estrella and Mariza. Even though Maca found that a bit rare, she didn’t question her, and she actually felt a bit relieved to have some time for herself to just relax before what was going to be the second most special day of her life, after Sole’s birth, of course. 

Inside the cottage, it was possible to feel the anticipation and happiness flying in the air. Both women felt a constant wave of joy and blush on their cheeks. Little glances throughout the day told them more than enough: they just wanted to get married already, they’re too excited to wait another second.

“Zulema, is there really so much to get done about the wedding? It’s not like we’re gonna have tons of guests, it’s only the five of us, plus Marta and Daniel.” 

The latter couple were friends Maca made at a market a few weeks ago. They’re also spanish, of course, and incredibly funny. Marta was a short woman with lovely features, light brown hair and light blue eyes. Daniel was much taller, with short black hair and piercing blue eyes. They were both good-looking, but in total different ways. Maca was afraid that Zulema wouldn’t like them, especially Daniel, given the fact that Zulema has a big issue with men in general. To her surprise, they got along really well. She didn’t realize how similar their senses of humor were, since they were both sarcastic and had a bit of a temper really, but that didn’t stop them to be sweet and kind, sometimes.

“Well we’re making this wedding because we want to be together, not because of the guests, so I really don’t see your point.” The brunette answers with an amused smile on her lips.

“I totally agree with that. And the ceremony will be beautiful, Maca.” Estrella says with a sweet expression on her face, as she finishes unwrapping the new plates they bought the day before.

“Yeah, I know.” She replies, trying to calm herself down. She was obviously happy, but at the same time something inside her was still broken.   
As a child, she always imagined her wedding in a big church, with all the people she loved. Her family, her friends and her husband. However, she didn’t want any of these things if that meant she wouldn’t marry Zulema. But she wouldn’t deny that she wanted her brother, her parents and her friends watching her get married. Oh well, that clearly wouldn’t happen. 

The closer it got to the wedding the longer it took for the time to go by. As the tradition said, the brides had to sleep in separate rooms in the night before the wedding. And so they did.

Zulema was now laying on the couch, with a dark blue blanket wrapped around her body. She cursed the fact that they didn’t have space for another guest room. 

Suddenly, her thoughts drifted away, to tomorrow. She started thinking about how it would be to see Maca walking down the aisle. She didn’t see her dress, obviously, but she knew she would look beautiful as always. 

She meditated in those thoughts for a while, until she heard light footsteps, telling her that someone entered the living room. It was Maca.

“I thought you’d be deep asleep right now.” The brunette says, sitting down on the couch.

“Yeah me too, but I just feel too agitated right now” Maca makes her way into the empty spot on the couch, next to her.

Maca stares at Zulema’s face, paying special attention to her nose. She couldn’t help to notice the lightness the woman exuded, it was evident that she was as happy as herself.

“I’m really happy, we’re doing this, you know?” It was like she had read her thoughts. She smiled softly.

“I know, I’m really happy too.” They begin a gentle kiss, mixed with subtle touches and fast heartbeats. 

“We should probably save this for the wedding night though.” Maca says, slowly pulling away from the kiss.”

“Unfortunately I agree.” Suddenly, it was possible to find a sad expression on Zulema’s face. The woman sighs. “I’m sorry, Maca.” 

Maca looks at her confused. “What are you talking about?”  
“I’m sorry for not being able to give you the perfect wedding. The type of wedding I know you dreamed of as a child. You know, a catholic one, surrounded by your friends and family, and probably with a man.” 

Maca lets her fiánce’s words sink down for a bit, before she finds the proper words to answer her. She wasn’t aware that was how Zulema felt, and it broke her heart to know that she felt guilty for thinking that she couldn’t give her a proper wedding. 

“Zulema, stop.” She faces the brunette, trying to transmit a comforting look. “I don’t want a perfect wedding. Not anymore. I just want to get married with you, I want that so badly and that to me is the most important thing.”

“I just wish the circumstances would have been a bit different, you know?” Zulema says quietly, paying attention to the knuckles of her own hands.

“Well, unfortunately we can’t change the circumstances, so we just have to accept them. Besides, the most important thing is that we found a way to change our relationship and arrive at where we are now, and that, for me, is the most important thing.” Maca puts her hand on the scorpion’s shoulder, smiling at her when their gazes meet. 

“You promise?” The brunette asks, hesitant.

“I promise.” They’re now both smiling.

“We should probably get to sleep now to prepare for the big day.” 

And so they part ways. It doesn’t take long for neither of them to fall asleep. 

_

Zulema is woken up at around 8 am, with Saray shaking her sleepy body. Once she takes a few seconds to properly wake up, she remembers that the big day has finally arrived.

“We should go to my room so you don’t see Maca.” Saray, with notable anxiety on her face, grabs Zulema hand like she was some kind of infant and drags her to her room.

“Where are my clothes?” She asks as she sits down on the foot of the bed, rubbing her eyes, still feeling traces of tiredness on her body.

“In my closet. Good thing you’re not in there anymore uh?” Saray asks with a goofy smile on her face, as she opens the closet and grabs the dark suit. 

“How funny gitana.” She takes the suit of Saray’s hands. Obviously, she would never wear a dress, that just wasn’t like her. She knew Maca would look great on her dress and now that she was in the suit, she definitely looked good too. 

It was a simple suit, really. Black, obviously, with subtle dark stripes and a white shirt underneath it. The shoes were just as simple, a dark tone and nicely polished. Following Saray’s advice, she put on small golden hoops on her ears, and made a low ponytail. 

“You look really beautiful Zule.” Saray’s words were honest, she had never seen her friend so beautiful. Even though she was clearly nervous, she also looked light as a feather. She had her typical makeup on, with the green eye pencil and the dark eyeliner, but she also accepted to put some soft blush on her cheeks, as well as a light tone of pink on her lips. 

“Does she suspect anything?” Saray asks as she applies the blush on her friend’s cheeks.

“I don’t think so, she still thinks it’ll be just us. You know how great I am at lying.”

“Yeah I do. I still can’t believe you convinced all of them to come.”

“Well, you know, their hatred for me might be big but their love for Maca is way bigger. And who can blame them, right?”

“I’m really proud of you for doing this Zule. To give up your pride to allow Maca to have the marriage of her dreams. That just shows how much you’ve changed and grown as a person.” She finishes applying the blush and moves on to her lips.

“Thank you gitana. That means a lot coming for you.”

In Maca and Zulema’s room, progresses were also being made. Maca already had her bride’s dress on: it was a long dress, transparent on her shoulder, with beautiful lace contorns around her breasts, in a subtle and elegant way. The lower part of the dress was plain, but it was really the top part that made it beautiful. As her makeup, she had a blue eyeshadow and a light pink lipstick, but a bit darker than Zulema’s. 

It was interesting to see how one of them chose the green color and the other the blue one. In a deep way, those two colors had an interesting contrast: the blue represented the sea, while the green was the earth, and at some point those two elements would fuse, it was their destiny to do so, to meet each other. Maybe that has been Maca and Zulema’s destiny all along too.

“So, how nervous are you?” Mariza asks Maca, as she makes the final touches to the blonde’s makeup. Meanwhile, Estrella was working on her hair, making some subtle curls.

“I’m a bit nervous. Especially because she hasn’t even allowed me to see the setting of the wedding, I don’t even know where it is. Have you two seen it?”

The mother and daughter look at each other before Estrella decides to answer “We promised Zulema we weren’t going to say anything, but don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll love everything.” They smile at each other and Maca tells herself that she can relax.

Suddenly, Estrella’s phone starts ringing. “Okay… Yeah we’re done, I don’t think we’ll take too long. Okay then, we’ll see you soon.”

Maca and Mariza stare at the girl waiting for the news. 

“Zulema and mom are already there, we should probably go too, the car that’s taking us is already outside.”

“Let’s go then.” Mariza says as she helps Maca to lift the dress, to avoid getting it dirty.

The drive to the place it’s longer than expected, and Maca can’t help but to feel more anxious. To add to that, one of Zulema’s biggest instructions was that she had to wear a blindfold on the way to where the wedding would take place.

She felt her heart beating faster and faster as she felt that they were getting closer.

“We’re here.” The driver says in english. 

“Okay then, let’s go. Hold my hand Maca and get out of the car.” Mariza says as she waits for Maca to exit the car slowly. Once she does, her feet feel what’s probably grass. As for the smell, she scented the fresh grass and all kinds of flowers. She heard birds singing and a few people murmuring, which made Maca think that the place they were getting married wasn’t really private.

After a few seconds, she felt what were probably Estrella’s hands untying the knot on the blindfold. When her vision was clear again, her jaw immediately dropped and tears started coming out of her eyes. They definitely weren’t alone, in fact, all of her friends were there: Tere, Luna, Goya, Triana, Palacios, Rizos, Marta, Daniel, even Fábio and Helena were there too, as well as Castillo. And the biggest surprise was to see that Román, her brother, was there too. He had a girl next to him that looked a lot like Maca, and she obviously knew that it was her niece.

Her heart felt like it was about to explode. Her eyes finally laid on the most important person in there: Zulema, and she looked beautiful. She was on the other side waiting for her, with a small smile on her lips. Estrella, Mariza and Saray were already behind her, waiting for Maca to start walking down the aisle. 

She felt like her feet were stuck to the floor, when suddenly she felt a hand holding her own, it was Román. He was now really close to her, giving her a comforting look.

“Let’s do this.” He said softly, wrapping his arm around her own. 

They start walking slowly and Maca takes her time to analyse everyone around the room. She was dying to know how Zulema convinced everyone to come, and how they all looked so happy. She then decides to stare back at Zulema, who had a bigger smile on her face now.

The two women are finally face to face, smiling at each other.

“You look stunning.” Zulema says quietly.

“I was going to say the same.” They continue to look at each other, like there was no one else around them.

“Well then, should we start this ceremony?” The person who was probably going to officialize the wedding says at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I'll try to update it as soon as possible.  
> Also, there's only three chapters left :(  
> Nevertheless, I hope you're all enjoying it. Love you guys xx


	23. The Wedding, pt.2

Author’s Pov

“Dear beloved. We are gathered here today to join Zulema Amena Zahir and Macarena Camejo Ferreiro in matrimony, which is commended to be honorable among all me, whether is between opposite sexes or the same one; and therefore is not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly.  
If anyone has anything against this matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

The whole room remains in silence, and with that a relief is taken of the women’s shoulders. Even though all the guests were there in free will, it wouldn’t surprise them if Fábio or Rizos decided to say something about the matter. But they didn’t, so the officiant continued her speech.

“Well, let us proceed then. The road that has brought Zulema and Macarena here today hasn’t been easy. It’s been filled with challenges that they weren’t necessarily prepared for. But together they’ve taken each one on and have used those experiences to strengthen, not weaken their love, they showed us that there’s always room for growth, to overcome our traumas and to compensate for the mistakes made in the past.”

Maca and Zulema keep making eye contact, both of them with caring smiles on their faces, and at this moment, they knew this would be forever. They could feel how meaningful this moment was for both of them, and just like the officiant said, they went through a lot to get here but it was all worth it.

“The vows that you are about to make are a way to share your love and commitment to each other in your own words. Sometimes poems, verses and quotes just don’t get the point across the way you need them to and the best option is just to do it yourself. These vows are your way of openly declaring your promise to one another as well as to all of those who are here in attendance today.”

“You can go first.” Zulema mutters the words to her fiancé. Maca inhales and exhales a couple times as she decides to tear up the paper where she wrote her initial vows. She decided that it was better to say what was on her mind.

“It’s still quite insane to me that we are doing this, but there’s nothing I would rather be doing. When I look at you, I don’t see the mistakes you and I both made in the past, but my chance for a brighter and happier future. Before we met, my life had no meaning whatsoever, I was stuck in a life that was modeled by the people surrounding me, and I never allowed myself to follow my gut and my desires, and when I did, that got me arrested. I thought I wasn’t going to make it in there, and we both know how hard it was, and even though we definitely didn’t get along at the time, we knew that since the moment we first laid eyes upon each other, a connection that was bigger than anything we could ever explain had been established. And that connection is, to this day, the thing that makes me want to get up every morning. I never loved someone as much as I love you, and I can’t see myself without you by my side. I can’t imagine my life without seeing your face as soon as I wake up, or without seeing you spoiling Sole as much as you do or without seeing you criticizing my cooking.” They both laugh. “If you’ll allow me, I’ll make sure to prove to you every single day how perfect you are, how proud I am of you, and how much I need you in my life. I love you Zulema.”

As much as Zulema tries to disguise, the tears running down her face were evident. The woman tries to regain her posture as it’s her time to read her vows. She didn’t even have a paper, but Maca knew she had a clear idea of what she was going to say.

“For most of my life, I never believed in love. Maybe because I thought I wasn’t worth it or because no one ever showed it to me. Until, a long time ago, an incredibly beautiful blonde woman came to pick me up from prison, when I had no one to do so, and even though her excuse was that she was “just curious” it actually meant the world for me. It feels so nice to have someone care about you, and as long as I’m with you, Maca, I know I’ll feel cared for, and I’ll care for you too. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life, as well as Sole’s, I promise that I’ll never let you down, and I’ll only give you love and appreciation, trying to make you feel every single day the most amazing woman in this world, because that’s exactly what you are. When I’m with you, I feel like a person again, someone who has a chance to make up for past mistakes and to grow from them, to grow and to be the best wife for you, and the best mother for Sole. You know that I’m not that great at being vulnerable, but I also know that no one has loved you as much as I do, even though I fail to show it, and there aren’t enough words to measure up to the size of my love for you, and for this life we built together.” 

After the vows, both brides can’t help but to allow the tears to fall, because after all there wouldn’t be a moment more special and unique than this one. They’re really doing this.

“The brides will now exchange rings to symbolize their commitment. Rings are derived from humble beginnings of imperfect metal to create something striking where there was once nothing at all. It is customarily worn on the ring finger as it is the only finger with a vein running directly to the heart. The wearing of the rings is a visible, outward sign that they have committed themselves to one another.”

“Zulema, please take Macarena’s hand and repeat after me.” Swiftly, the brunette takes the blonde’s hand, and rubs her finger gently against her skin, making Maca shiver at the touch.

“I give you this ring, as a symbol of our love,

for today and tomorrow, and for all the days to come.

Wear it as a sign of what we have promised on this day

and know that my love is present

even when I am not.”

After Maca repeats the minister’s words too, and they both possess the rings on their finger, it’s time to end the ceremony, and their hearts are beating faster than ever.

“After this exchange of rings, I now consider you married. You may kiss each other, as a way, to symbolize the beginning of this matrimony.”

As Maca’s hands tremble violently, the woman barely has any time to think when she suddenly feels Zulema pulling her against her own body, starting a passionate kiss, tongues included. Her hand is at the end of the younger woman’s back, touching it gently. During such an affectionate kiss, it was barely impossible to remember the presence of the guests. They were aware of the judgement in the room, not because they were both women, obviously, but because they all knew their history together, and couldn’t quite believe what their eyes were witnessing. But, at this point, they couldn’t care less, they just wanted to enjoy the moment, uniting all of the particles in their bodies as one. Everything surrounding the two women were just lights, guiding them and showing them how bright their future together could be. 

After the kiss, to their surprise, all the guests start applauding, and it’s time for the new wives to walk down the aisle, together. Zulema holds Maca’s hand tightly, giving her the sweetest look Maca had ever seen on the woman’s face. That look, without needing any word, assured Maca that everything would go well for them, and it definitely soothed her heart, more than she thought it would.

After walking the aisle, the two women go directly to the room next to where the party would take place. A party Macarena didn’t know it would happen, until now. In the room, there were two party gowns displayed on a sofa, one of them tagged “Maca” and the other “Zule”, and it became evident that it was Saray’s work. Maca’s outfit was a short glittery pink dress, with long sleeves and a low turtleneck. To pair with it, some white high boots- Macarena couldn’t lie, that was a beautiful outfit. Zulema’s outfit was a strapless black jumpsuit, and the classic black louboutin’s. Zulema was never a big fan of fashion, but as much as it costs for her to admit, she always wanted some louboutin’s on her feet. 

As she’s too busy admiring her new heels, she feels a pair of arms wrapping around her waist, making it possible to inhale Maca’s vanilla scented perfume. 

“I cannot thank you enough for this. I was expecting it, at all.” Her voice is just as sweet as her perfume, and that thought, paired up with her words, makes Zulema smile.

“You deserve nothing less. I wanted to give you the best wedding in the world.”

“And you definitely did. I love you so much, I can’t even put it into words.” It’s Maca’s turn to pull the brunette to a kiss, placing her hands on her cheeks and immediately introducing her tongue inside of her wife’s mouth. Zulema sighs against the kiss, as she gently pulls Maca’s hair with one hand, while the other is comfortably on her hip.

Later, after a few moments of simply kissing and enjoying each other’s presence alone, they decide that it’s finally time to get ready for the party. Outside the room, it’s already possible to hear the loud music, and a few people chattering.

The outfits, in the women’s bodies, looked just as good as when it was placed on the couch. The pink dress gave Maca an almost heavenly appearance. The glittery gave her a younger look, but the way the dress barely covered her thighs made her look more mature, and sexier. On the other hand, Zulema’s jumpsuit made her look even more powerful, and more dominant, in all senses of the word. The jumpsuit was slightly tighter than what she would like, as the piece of cloth hugged her curves perfectly, showing how beautiful her body was. At that sight, Macarena’s body was instantly hotter, and she took her time to admire how gorgeous her new wife was. She proceeds to get closer to the woman and places one of her hands in the top part of the jumpsuit, more specifically at the breast area, and from there her hand only goes down, ending in the inside of her thighs. 

“You know, we could start our wedding night right now.” She says quietly as she starts depositing small kisses on Zulema’s neck, making the other woman moan at the touch. 

“Even though I would absolutely love that” the woman says with difficulty, since it gets harder and harder to control her breathing “we should get back to our guests, you have a lot of people to say hello to.”

“We have.”

“No, you have. They’re only here for you, all of them despise me, don’t forget that.” She takes two steps behind, as an attempt to break the contact with Maca.

“Don’t say that, if they despise you they wouldn’t be here to see us get married. And if they really do, we’re gonna change their minds, because right now, you’re the best person I know.”

Zulema nods with a small smile on her lips, as she proceeds to hug the blonde, wrapping her arms around her strongly.

They both jump once they listen to someone knocking at the door.

“Am I interrupting something?” Rizos says quietly. Macarena had a pretty good idea of how the woman probably felt about this whole thing. Nevertheless, hearing the woman’s voice, she immediately smiled and jumped into the woman’s arms, who received with the same amount of joy.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, I didn’t think I would do it.”

“I would never miss such a special day. I would be lying if I said that I wouldn’t rather attend our own wedding, but you seem really happy, so I’m happy for you too.” Her words were honest, and Maca felt relieved for that. Rizos then turns her attention to Zulema, and Maca’s anxiety starts going up again, while she just hoped for the best. 

“Congratulations. And thank you for the invitation, I never thought you would do something like that.” Rizos gets closer to Zulema, who shrugs at the proximity. It was weird to have people so close after being alone with Maca for so many years. Obviously she was close with Saray too, but that didn’t count, it was people like Rizos that made her uncomfortable. However, she tried her hardest to disguise that.

“Yeah, well, I would do anything for her.” She says with a smile, and for the first time Maca couldn’t tell if it was an honest one or a sarcastic one.

“I can see that, and I get it. Maca’s that type of person that has the power to change anyone, I’m glad to see that worked for you.” 

And with that, Maca felt the need to step up. 

“It wasn’t me who changed Zulema, Rizos. She did it all on her own, I was simply by her side. And if you’re gonna be here, I beg of you to get along, that’s all I want from you.” Saying those words, Maca decides to stay closer to Zulema, almost to say to Rizos “I’m by her side, always”, and Zulema definitely understood that message, and felt safe. Macarena knew that Zulema would try her hardest to keep her satisfied, and she wasn’t so sure about Rizos. The woman always had an explosive temper, and a self-centered perspective of how things worked. Maca was happy to see her again, after all she had an important part in her life, and she sure wished her the best, but she knew the worst of her, and wasn’t willing to let her show it to Zulema tonight.

“I’m sorry Maca, you’re right. I’m actually really happy for you two.” She says looking down. Maca smiles, and Zulema does too, a smaller smile of course, but a genuine one.

The three of them decide that it’s time to finally join the party. Maca felt nervous to say hello to the guests, but feeling Zulema’s hand intertwined to her own made things a bit easier.

Once they join them, the first person that notices them is Fábio, joined by Helena. It definitely felt weird to see Helena, because Maca barely spoke to her in prison, and the little that she did wasn’t that special. And when it comes to her relationship with Zulema… well…. it was a tricky one. Zulema tried to kill her twice in the past, so Maca guessed that Helena coming to the wedding was the work of Fabio himself. It made sense that he didn’t want to come alone to the wedding of the woman he loves and that didn’t want to marry him and the woman he hated the most in the whole world. It was a tricky situation, even a dangerous one. This whole thing could explode at any second, and Maca felt the weight of the responsibility to guarantee that wouldn’t happen. 

“Hi, Maca.” Fabio greets her, and it’s visible that the man is nervous. And who wouldn’t be. 

“Hey. Thank you for coming, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, I feel the same.” As he looks at Maca, Zulema takes her time to pay attention to the man’s body language. His hands are buried so deeply in the pockets of his pants that Zulema feared that they wouldn’t rip. 

“Look Fabio, I know that you probably have a lot of questions running in your head right now, and I get that, but I hope you understand that… I love this woman, and you witnessed the worst in our relationship back in Cruz del Sur, but now it’s all different, and I want you to be able to see that.” Maca spits those words in a second, as an attempt to break the ice. She knew Fábio didn’t have it in him to say what he thought, so she decided to do it herself.

“You’re right Maca.” He says with a sigh. “I really don’t understand, but I know that you’re a grown up, capable of making her own decisions, and if you two are together, then there’s something special about it. It certainly looks like it.” He takes a glance at Zulema.

“There is something special about it, thank you for saying that.” Zulema mocks. To Maca’s surprise, the man laughs.

“Oh, and I brought Helena, I hope that’s alright.” Helena takes one step ahead, almost like she wants people to notice her.

“Of course, the more people the best.” Maca laughs softly, and then decides to give Helena a small hug. At first, the woman is taken by surprise, but in the end takes this demonstration of affection gladly. 

After breaking the hug, Helena faces Zulema, with an expression that’s almost impossible to read. Zulema herself doesn’t really know how to react. A million possibilities go through her head, but after taking a look at her wife, there’s only one possibility that seems acceptable. 

“Hi, Helena. I’m sorry for everything, and I’m really glad you’re here. Hopefully we can start over.” Everyone is taken by surprise by the scorpion’s words, even the scorpion herself. She felt weak by saying them, but that seemed the best option, because of Maca.

“Thank you for saying that. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget what you did, but I’m willing to try, especially because we won’t be seeing each other again, probably.” The two women smile at each other after Zulema’s words.

A few years ago, when they were living together in the van, Maca asked Zulema if she ever felt attracted to another woman. At that time, they didn’t have anything, actually, that was precisely two weeks before they had sex for the first time. However, Maca still hoped she would say her name, but instead she said Helena’s. She told her that they almost had sex but something in Zulema’s guts told her it was better to avoid that, and she was right, because a few minutes later she discovered that the woman betrayed her.   
When they started dating and Maca brought that topic up once again, Zulema said that the first name that popped in her head was Maca’s, but she didn’t have the nerve to say it. Nevertheless, the attraction for Helena had been there, so Maca, at this moment, wished the two women decided to stay mad at each other, but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. 

“We should probably say hello to the others right?” Maca says, grabbing Zulema’s hand again.

“Yeah let’s go.” The other woman says without hesitating. 

“We’ll talk later, Fabio, vale? Hope you two enjoy the party!” Maca says as they slowly walk away. 

“Yeah sure, see you later.”

As they walk, Zulema stops them, grabbing Maca for a quick but strong kiss.

“No need to be jealous rubia. You’re the only woman that attracts me now.”


	24. The wedding night

Author’s Pov

The rest of the night went by smoothly enough. Macarena and Zulema made sure to pay attention to every single one of the guests, which was hard for Zulema, but in the end she made it. 

However, Maca, for most of the night, didn’t have it in her to go talk to her brother. The two of them shared glances throughout the whole night, but they were both too stubborn to make a move, and who can blame them. Román arrived at the wedding with a beautiful brunette, mother of Román’s daughter, Macarena. 

When Maca switched her attention to her niece, she immediately remembered the last conversation she had with him, where he told her that he named his daughter after her. That same night, Maca thought about running away from Zulema, but she ended up coming back to her, like she always did. She ended up realizing how much she needed to have the older woman around, to breathe the same air as her, and to wake up next to her every single morning.

And for that, she was almost ashamed to go to Román. Ashamed because when she went to Cruz del Sur, her brother was always there for her, trying to help her as best as he could, crossing every single line, and those lines made him lose his stepdaughter, as well as her first wife. She couldn’t help but to wonder what he thought about this situation, where his sister just married the woman who was partially guilty for making him lose everything.

It was now almost 2 am, everyone was either dancing or drinking, or both. Román was sitting at his table, along with his wife and daughter, talking. The conversation seemed quite serious, which made Maca know for sure that they were talking about Zulema and herself. Whilst that was happening, Zulema and Maca were talking to Saray, Rizos, Antonia and Tere. Even though Maca was concerned for the situation with her brother, it did fall nice to have the group all together again.

“Maca honey you have to tell us how the sex is! You know I’m more of a cucumber gal myself, but Zulema seems that type of woman that is a complete animal in bed!” Antonia said between giggles, with her usual loud voice. 

Macarena laughs softly, slightly embarrassed for the woman’s comment. She looks over to Zulema, who is looking down, with a small smile on her face.

“Come on guys I’m really happy to be here but I definitely prefer to not listen to that type of details.” Rizos says as she slaps Antonia on the shoulder, laughing.

“Yeah I don’t wanna hear about that either, listening to them every single day is enough. You have no idea how loud Maca is, it's quite terrifying.” Saray giggles at her own words, and Maca covers her own face as she listens to the gitana’s words.

“Oh I know how loud she is.” Rizos places her arm on the blonde’s shoulder. Almost as an instinct, Maca takes the woman’s arm off her shoulder, and gets closer to Zulema. She really hated how the woman could be so inconvenient sometimes. 

“Rizos you really need to stop saying everything that’s on your mind tía!” Tere speaks at last.

“Oh Zulema knows I’m kidding, right?” Rizos, with clear irony, says.

“Of course!” Zulema says with a smile on her face, then, she gets closer to the curly haired woman. “But what a coincidence it would be if you exited this wedding dead, don’t you think?” Her smile is still on her face, as she enunciates such words. For a couple of seconds, the two women make eye contact, and Maca feared for what would happen. 

“Okay let’s all settle down and not ruin this night that was a real pain in the ass to organize.” Saray grabs Zulema’s arm, who was already getting closer and closer to Rizos.

“Yeah you’re right. I’m gonna fetch something to drink.” Zulema stands up, making her way to the table full of all kinds of drinks.

“Wait, I’m going with you.” The blonde joins her wife.

As they pour into their glasses the most expensive champagne they bought, Zulema finally gathers the courage to ask Maca something she’s been thinking about the whole night.

“When are you gonna talk to your brother? You can’t avoid him forever, you know?” Zulema inquires as she looks at the man, who’s not very far away from them.

“I know. Should I go now? And just get it over with?”

“Definitely, I’m gonna talk to the rest of the guests so you two can speak with privacy.”

“Thank you.” They share a quick kiss before going in different ways. Macarena inhales and exhales a few times before feeling brave enough to go to Román.

The man, who’s facing the other way, is now alone, sitting in of the chairs in his table. Maca notices that his wife and daughter are dancing a few meters away, thankfully.

Finally, Maca reaches his shoulder, tapping it softly. Feeling the touch, he finally turns around, facing her with a mix of surprise, happiness and awkwardness. 

“Hey.” Maca says with a shy smile on her face, as she plays with her hands. She then decides to grab a chair and sit in front of her brother.

“Hey Maca, it’s good to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too. Thank you for coming, especially because I know it’s hard for you to wrap your head around how my life turned out, and I completely understand.”

The man sighs. “Look Macarena, I won’t lie to you. I don’t like Zulema, and I never will, that much will not change. I lost pretty much my whole life because of that woman and I’ll never forget to forgive that.”

As Maca listens to those words, she instinctively looks down, feeling drops of sadness spreading through inside her whole body. She was a fool for thinking that Zulema and Román would somehow get along. They were both way too stubborn for such a thing to happen. But, if Román hated the woman that much, why did he bother to come?

“However…” He pauses, trying to think about his next words. “Your happiness will always be the most important thing to me, and somehow you look really happy with her, and she really loves you, I can tell that. I’ll never understand this, that’s true, but I’ll always be here for you, for anything. I want us to make up for the years we lost apart, and I want to get to know my niece, if you want that too.”

As she listens to those words, Macarena can’t help but to start crying. She knew that it was asking for too much to see Zulema and Román getting along, but she was happy that they were finally honest with each other and that they promised to stick together from now on.

With the sight of his little sister crying, Román immediately wraps his arms around her tightly. 

“I’ve missed you.” Maca says softly.

“I’ve missed you too, little sister.” They both smile, and they stay like that for a while, just talking and catching up. Maca chooses not to talk about the heist she pulled with her wife, deciding that would be way too much for him to accept. She was happy to realize that she could finally have her brother back, this time for good, hopefully. 

They stay for a little while longer chatting with the guests, along with dancing and drinking. Everyone is absolutely charmed with little Sole, and even though Zulema doesn’t admit, she was happy to see that. 

Zulema decides to go once again to the table full of drinks, whilst Maca is talking once again to Román, especially because she still didn’t have enough courage to talk to him.

As she pours a bit of gin on her glass, she notices Castillo standing next to her.

“You know, I’m still so surprised that you actually showed up, Inspector.” She says with the kind of smile that Castillo was used to see on her face.

“Did you really think I would miss la boda del siglo?” He says as he laughs, making Zulema laugh too.

“Well, whatever is the reason that you came, I’m glad you did. Maybe you’ll finally believe that I’m trying to leave an honest and happy life.” Castillo, for some reason, senses honesty on the scorpion’s words.

“And happy for you. For both of you.”

“You are?”

“Of course! Especially because I won’t have to clean your mess anymore. I’m way too old for that shit.” Zulema knew that wasn’t the only reason. Even though they always met each other under the worst circumstances, they formed a quite beautiful friendship, in the most twisted sense of the word.

“Well, I just came here to say goodbye, I already said to Maca and I need to start heading to the airport.”

“Vale. I just wanted to ask you something. Do you think it’s safe for us to go back to Spain?”

“Why would you two want to go back there? I thought you were living the ultimate dream in here!” He says with a look of genuine surprise on his face.

“And we are, but you know us Castillo. The cottage is beautiful but way too peaceful for us, if we spent years robbing places by choice because we liked that, the whole adrenaline, the dynamic. We crave some movement and this right here is starting to get boring.”

“Zulema, I really hope you’re not telling me that you two are gonna go back to the heists.”

“No, it’s not that, we just want to go back to Spain, there isn’t much for us to do here anymore. Do you think it’s ok?”

“I guess so, you’ll just have to be careful and remain lowkey, even though I know that’s hard for you two.” 

“We’ll do that, we promise.” She feels relieved to know that they’ll be able to come back, and for Sole they would remain lowkey.

“Zulema Zahir, married and raising a baby, who would have thought uh?” Castillo has that kind of “proud father” smile on his face.

With that, they exchange smiles and he walks away.

The end of the wedding arrives, and the guests start leaving, and they all promise to remain in contact. Apart from Fabio and Helena, because they all could see how weird that whole encounter had been.

Since Zulema already told Maca that it was okay for them to go back to Spain, they made sure to know where they could locate all of their friends, and agreed to stay with Saray and her family for a few weeks before they could find their own place. As to Román, he agreed to meet them once they had their home.

With the ending of this memorable event, they make their way to the hotel Zulema had made reservations for the two women to enjoy their wedding night.

_  
The hotel room was dark, but in a way that really represented lust and desire, making shivers go down Maca’s spine. The bed was exceptionally large, with silk bedding and petals of roses scattered around the whole bed;a red-ish light was around the whole room.

As Maca tries to pay attention to the details of the room, she feels wet kisses traced on her neck by the brunette, making her sigh.

“Oh you really don’t want to waste any time uh?” Maca says giggling softly.

“Of course, I’ve been wanting to do this all week.”

Then, Zulema places her hand on one of her wife’s breasts, above her fully-clothed body. As an impulse, Maca’s head is thrown back, allowing Zulema to access her neck more easily. Once she finally gets the chance, the blonde turns around, standing face to face with the brunette, who has a smirk on her face. Then, they finally join their lips together, starting a kiss that could almost be described as savage, her tongues asking permission to enter each other’s mouth. Macarena feels her back against one of the cold walls of the hotel room, as Zulema kisses her once again, taking off her dress at the same time. Feeling the older woman’s warm hands on her hips, she sighs in satisfaction, leaning her body forwards to gain more contact, and as a silent request for her partner to hurry up.

Still kissing her, Zulema starts taking off her overall almost with desperation. Once that’s done, she proceeds to take off her wife’s underwear, leaving her fully naked, and finally leading her to the bed. The vision of the blonde woman naked and completely at her mercy still felt just as exhilarating as in the first time. She took her time to admire her curves, every single inch of that beautiful body, leaving the other woman quite impatient. 

After her few minutes, she decides to take off her own underwear, and get a bit closer to Maca. With that, Macarena uses her strength to make the woman lay down on her bed, and she gets on top of Zulema. Zulema tries to fight back as an attempt to get back to her position as a dominant, but soon gives up, the blonde woman is stronger than she looked.

Maca goes straight to the older woman’s neck, tracing kisses until the area of her breasts, putting one of her nipples in her mouth, and sucking it gently, making the other woman sigh quietly. She feels Zulema hand grabbing tightly into a few locks of her long blonde hair, guiding her into the way down, where she really needed her. Accepting that, she starts to move her tongue downwards, always keeping the contact with her skin.

At last, she reaches the area between her thighs, and she places her tongue on the woman’s clit, sucking it with strength, making her moans get louder and louder. She then inserts one of her fingers in the woman’s entry, making her almost scream. As she thrusts her hips against Maca’s long finger, she decides to add another one, continuing to suck Zulema’s clit. Once she recovers from her strong orgasm, Zulema is finally able to switch positions. Once she is on top of Maca, she reaches for under the bag, revealing a blindfold and a strap. Maca looks at Zulema with an expression of surprise and confusion on her face.

“You really think I didn’t have this whole night prepared?” Maca gives a little smile in response, feeling the excitement growing in her chest once again. 

“Get on your back, darling.” Maca does exactly what she’s told to with no hesitation.

Suddenly her vision goes dark as she feels Zulema blindfolding her; her heartbeat gets faster and stronger. After a few minutes of complete silence, she feels Zulema’s hands on her hip, trying to show her in which she wanted the younger woman to stay. Maca has her knees pressed against the mattress, and the rest of her body is all leaned down to the bed, making her ass completely exposed to the other woman. 

Finally, she felt something, which she assumed was the dildo, pressing lightly against her entry, as the brunette’s hands  
steadily grabbed her hips, joining her bodies a bit closer. With considerable strength, the dildo enters the other woman, making her moan loudly, feeling a bit of an aching pain in the beginning. Zulema, understanding that, remains in that position for a while, waiting for Maca to get used to the feeling.

“Are you ok?” Zulema asks softly.

“Yes of course. Do it, please.” Maca says, finally overcoming the pain.

After caressing her hips, Zulema starts thrusting against her body; steady and strong thrusts, but not too fast, at least not yet. Multiple waves of pleasure start going through Maca’s body, as she continues to be pulled against and pulled away from Zulema’s body. The brunette starts thrusting faster and faster, and Maca feels the need to grab the sheets with both of her hands, tightly. She hears Zulema’s fast breathing and feels the sweat dripping down her body, and finally, her second orgasm hits her. 

Feeling like her whole body is numb, Zulema takes off her blindfold and throws it on the floor as well as the strap.   
As they’re laying down together, they exchange caresses and thoughts about their future, now as a married couple.


	25. Last flower

Author’s Pov

It has been exactly one week since the wedding, and the two women were still in awe with such a day. All of it felt like a common dream between the two of them, especially the thought that they were now married, and they had a whole future ahead of them, along with their daughter.

They went on their honeymoon the day after the wedding, to Saint Lucia, located in the Eastern side of the Caribbean. Even though it was hard for both of them to leave Sole for the first time, they had the most amazing week of their entire lives. By day, they would head to the beach or to one of the pools, they would eat the most delicious food and savour the most amazing drinks. By night, they would either go to one of the parties near where they were staying and just dance the whole time, or they would stay in their room, and have the most amazing sex, until neither of them could barely breathe.

Once they got back to the cottage, they decided that it was finally time to take another step in their lives together, and that step was to move back to Spain. They just missed it, they missed how hectic and nerve-wrecking the city life could be, and as amazing as it was to give birth and raise Sole for a bit in here, they knew she would have a lot more friends and a better life in Spain.

Packing wasn’t that difficult. After all, before this cottage they lived for two years in the tiniest van so obviously they couldn’t carry a lot with them. Nevertheless, Mariza, Saray and Estrella offered to help, and they would return to Spain with them, so that made the whole process much easier.

“I fucking hate packing. Can we just shove everything in packages and go?” Zulema sighs annoyed, as she throws her clothes into their bed.

“Because then that wouldn’t be packing, now would it?”

Zulema simply rolls her eyes, but continues to do her packing, because even though it didn’t seem like it, she was excited to go back to Spain, to witness a bit more action and life around her.

Once the night approaches, they’re almost done packing. Maca decides to empty the bookshelves, storing all the books Zulema and her, but especially Zulema, had accumulated over the last few months.   
Whilst she grabs the books one by one to place them in their box, she finds a book by Virginia Woolf, “Mrs. Dalloway”, the book she was reading when they first moved into the cottage. As she opens the book, a dry flower falls to the ground. When she bends down to fetch it, the memory of when she got the flower pops into her head. It was back when Zulema and her started their garden, and this flower was the first flower that grew on their little land, a beautiful purple flower, and Zulema had given it to her.

Macarena remembers very clearly how much that little gesture moved her at the time, after all, Zulema was much colder back then than what she is now, so those demonstrations of affection were quite rare. Maca felt incredibly proud of how much her wife had grown throughout the time they spent together. She went from being a cold-hearted woman whose only ways of communicating were through violence, sarcasm and insults, to actually being her wife, the love of her life, and the mother of her daughter, destiny really plays a trick on you.

“What are you looking at?” Zulema asks softly as she gently wraps her arms around the blonde’s waist, placing her face on the nape of her neck.

Macarena raises the hand holding the flower. “Do you remember when you gave me this?”

“Ah yes. It was back when we first moved in. I can’t believe you’ve kept it all this time.” The brunette smiles, kissing Maca’s cheek afterwards. 

“Of course. It means a lot to me, even after all this time.” The younger woman turns around to face the older one. “You have no idea how much I love you.” Maca joins their foreheads as she says those words.

“I actually do, because I love you just as much.” And then it’s lips against lips, tongues and all. It was possible to hear sighs coming from the women’s mouths around the room.

Zulema gets a stronger grip around Maca’s waist pulling her closer, and at this moment they are interrupted by a screaming Saray.

“Come on ladies! Now it’s not the time to fool around, let’s get back to work.” The couple rolls their eyes at almost the same time, but obey to their friend’s request.

After a few more hours, they are ready to finally move out. As the moving truck finally leaves to deliver their stuff in Spain, they place their smaller package in the rented car they’ve been using since they first arrived, since they agreed with the owner of the car to leave the car at the airport.

Zulema gets Sole ready to leave, making sure she is warm enough. In the meantime the baby simply stares at her mother with the biggest smile, warming Zulema’s heart, and making her feel quite emotional. 

“Are we all ready?” Mariza says, as Estrella bends down to get some of the bags. “We should probably head to the airport now.”

“Yeah you’re right.” Macarena says, taking some of the luggage too. “Do you want me to take Sole to the car?” She asks Zulema.

“No, that’s fine, I’ll do it.” She says, whilst they both notice that Sole fell asleep on her arms, they both smile at the sight. 

Estrella, Mariza and Macarena make their way to the car, leaving only Zulema and her daughter, as well as Saray.

“Saray.” Zulema catches the woman’s attention, who’s already grabbing the remaining package to leave the cottage.

“What?”

“I just want to thank you for everything you did for us in these past few months. I don’t think I did that yet and I feel the need to do so.” The older woman says looking down. And without her noticing it, Saray takes her for a hug.

“You don’t have to thank me, Zule. You have no idea how happy I am to see how your life turned out. To see that you found love and happiness means so much for me. And despite what happened in the past, I can see how much Maca loves you, and how much you love her back, you two make a beautiful couple.”

“Thank you, hermana.” Zulema knows that if she says anything else she probably will end up crying, and she definitely didn’t feel like doing that right now, so she decides to not say anything more. 

As they are finally all inside the car, Maca looks at the cottage and silently says goodbye to that place, and to all the wonderful moments they spent there. Even though she wanted so badly to go back to her country, she would miss this place, and she would think about it fondly. 

“I will miss it too.” Zulema, who’s sitting next to her in the back seats, squeezes her hand, knowing exactly what her wife was thinking. Maca smiles in response, kissing her face afterwards.

Sole was still sleeping, thankfully, which will make the trip to the airport much easier. 

They were all a bit nervous about passing through the gates, not that they were carrying something they shouldn’t, but it was just a habit to fear that the police would come after them at any given moment. They knew that they didn’t have anything to worry about, because back when they were doing the heists no one was fast enough to recognize them and tell to the cops; and when it comes to Ramalla and his men, Castillo told them at the wedding that they had been all arrested, and therefore the family business broke. So everything should go smoothly, and it wasn’t like people at the french airport would know who they were.

Everything would go well, and they were more than happy to continue to embrace this new life of theirs, together.

Because this time, there was no helicopter, and they didn’t have to run for their lives. This time, they would take a cab to the airport and fly to Madrid. They had big hopes for this new-old life, but they knew that just by having each other, everything would go well.

It was still crazy to see how everything changed in Zulema and Maca’s relationship, but they couldn’t be happier about it.

There’s no greatest gift in life than to have someone by your side, someone that makes you feel loved. Someone that feels like a home, and to Zulema that someone is Maca, and the other way around. And it will be like that forever.

  
The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the ending folks. I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you so much for your support throughout this whole time, it truly means a lot to me :') I have a slightly new zurena fanfic called "Kiss the bride" that I'm currently writing, so if you want to go check it out it's on my AO3 profile.
> 
> Love you all, and see you soon xx
> 
> Come say hi to me on twitter: @chaionearth


End file.
